Glossary

Acute:

a sudden episode of intense and dynamic symptoms; caused by infection, injury or epidemic e.g. a fever, vomiting and diarrhoea from food poisoning. Remedies for this are often repeated or changed frequently.

Aggravation:

a remedy response which provokes a worsening and then cure of existing symptoms e.g. the flareup of a skin condition that has previously been suppressed.

Allopathy/Orthodox medicine:

a symptomatic treatment aimed at suppression of symptoms, rather than a holistic approach.

Chronic:

a disease state that is lived with long-term, with possible flare-ups, e.g. IBS. Chronic diseases have a character of their own: their symptoms increase in number in the course of life. Vital energies are unable to overcome them on their own, even a perfectly balanced diet and lifestyle make no essential difference.

Constitution:

a person's inherited, innate make-up. Personal symptomatology, who you are as a person and how you express disease. For example a child may be naturally wiry and hyperactive, while his sibling is naturally placid and lacking in muscle definition, yet they are fed on the same diet.

Disease:

a reflection of the disturbances of your inner self and consitution.

Exciting Cause:

the immediate trigger to the onset of symptoms, e.g. being caught outside in a rainstorm, leading to a fever the same night.

Maintaining Cause:

an ongoing unhealthy situation which acts as an obstacle to cure e.g. an abusive relationship.

Miasm:

Homeopaths use this term for defining different kinds of inherited susceptibility eg if an ancestor had TB, the patient might present with chronic respiratory symptoms. This is known as the tubercular diathesis. Homeopathy is unique in addressing this aspect of health. Remedies called nosodes, made from disease products, are used for this miasmatic prescribing.

Potencies:

Homeopathic remedies become more potent with increased dilution and succussion. The higher the number, the more powerfully it acts. Lower potencies are prescribed for simple and undynamic physical symptoms e.g. 6x tissue salts for bone strength, and the elderly, because they can lack vitality. Higher potencies address more dynamic and emotional states, e.g. suicidal depression.

Proving:

a form of drugs trial of homeopathic remedies, conducted on healthy humans by double blind dosing including a placebo, the symptoms being recorded as if from one person, including the inner nature of mental and emotional states.

Suppression:

the process of removing symptoms without addressing the cause. The consequence can be a deeper and more chronic condition which is often not linked with the first symptom eg eczema when treated with hydrocortisone creams can disappear only to be followed by asthma.

Susceptibility/Predisposition:

the weaknesses to certain conditions that we have inherited, innate to our constitution. These may manifest at any point in life, often in response to trauma, a critical episode or a reduction in vitality from age or stress, e.g. heart disease following bereavement.

Symptoms:

These are the expression of the disease and not the disease itself. These are unique to each individual and therefore tell us about the remedy needed. Symptoms are expressed on any level, physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual; homeopathy can find characteristic value in even the smallest. The totality of symptoms provides the raw material for remedy diagnosis/prescription. As in any other form of self-expression, symptom suppression can cause a more distressing condition.

Vital Force:

This concept predates homeopathy; there has long been a realisation that the organism attempts to self-heal eg producing fevers to rid the body of infection. A strong vital force can overcome such an acute episode effectively, which is what we see in infants who produce fevers quickly and then recover. Homeopaths match remedies and potencies to the high vital force evident in such childhood illnesses, whereas with the depleted vital force of the elderly lower potencies and slower remedies are appropriate. Other terms for vital force are Chi in Chinese medicine, or what we understand by a person's vitality.