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Abstract
Grade of Membership Analysis (GoM) is a multivariate statistical technique developed
for the purposes of medical classification. It was applied to the drug picture concept
of homoeopathy, assessing five common medicines with particular applicability to anxiety.
These were Arsenicum album (Ars), Gelsemium (Gels), Argentum nitricum (Arg-n), Lycopodium (Lyc) and Sulphur (Sulph). The patient sample comprised 104 psychiatric outpatients with structured clinical
interviewbased primary diagnoses of social phobia, panic disorder, post traumatic
stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression and dysthymia. A
homoeopathic screening questionnaire (HSQ) was used to test the integrity of the five
drug pictures. Four pure types emerged, providing some evidence to support distinctions
between Sulph and Arg-n features, and a pure type with many features of Ars, Arg-n, Lyc and Gels. The fourth pure type contained few of the drug's characteristics. There was some
evidence to suggest that psychiatric diagnoses assorted differentially, based on the
homoeopathically determined pure types. This study provides qualified support for
the drug picture descriptions.
Key words
Anxiety - Questionnaire - Structured interview - Grade of membership analysis - Homoeopathic
types
