Individual Paediatrics: Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Aspects of Diagnosis and Counselling, Anthroposophic-Homoeopathic Therapy

‘We have therefore a trinity of medical approaches. The basic mechanistic study of structure of the body, then the exclusively subjective psychological interpretation which can explain all illness as purposive, albeit unconscious, and the third, the homoeopathic, which potentially mediates between them’.

‘At present these three cannot communicate with each other… It is my contention that the stream of anthroposophical medicine could be the mediator between the three, fertilizing each approach and enriching itself in the process. The trinity must become a triunity’.

‘These distinctive medical approaches and disciplines would not then be seen as alternative or complementary but as distinctive functions within an organic whole’.–Ralph Twentyman, MD (The Science and Art of Healing, 1992; Floris Books; foreword by Owen Barfield), pp. 20, 1.

And so this review begins, albeit with a quote from the late British anthroposophical/homeopathic titan, Ralph Llewelyn Twentyman. In this piece, I shall attempt to ever so briefly introduce anthroposophically extended medicine (a-em). I say attempt, as a-em is so profound, complex and radical that volumes have been written on this vast subject, which was founded by Rudolf Steiner (1876–1925) and Ita Wegman (1876–1943), in the middle of the last century.

The authors, two German paediatric physicians (Stellmann is deceased, 1925–2010) possessing impeccable credentials, have penned a comprehensive work. Their efforts have been matched by CRC Press, which produced this high-quality volume. Physician James A. Dyson edited and revised the author's 32-page introduction and offers this on page 1: ‘A child's life is permeated by an intentionality to bring its individuality to expression. With its birth, the newborn child takes the most incisive step on this path. It may bring the child close to death and the mother to the brink of what she can deal with and endure. The impulse that triggers the birth process, at least under normal circumstances, comes from the child itself: he or she wants to be born! It is possible to fathom why human birth takes place so dramatically; can we discern the underlying reasons behind this?’ –p. 1.

This statement provides an inkling of what the reader will encounter (and enjoy) if he purchases this masterful work. The introduction's sub-sections offer several mini-tutorials on holistic health and homeopathy while also including sections specifically devoted to a-em, for example ‘The individualized human body’, ‘Chronic illness and unresolved self-regulation disorders’, ‘The soul-spiritual nature of the child’, ‘The concept of the human being in medicine’ and ‘Presence of the soul-spiritual individuality during childhood development’.

Though this is decidedly a paediatric textbook, many of the concepts discussed can be readily applied to the adult. The word, ‘individual’, in the book's title indicates a foundational holistic health concept, namely that each of us is a distinct individual where no formulae truly apply: each must be treated as a unique being and not as a ‘disease’.

These aforementioned points are important in understanding a-em and are covered in the book's introduction but will be briefly outlined.

Essential for understanding anthroposophy and a-em is the recognition of the spiritual. All material is suffused with spirit, as this philosophy maintains; material originates from spirit. Furthermore, all matter was created with help from spiritual beings and these beings continue to be actively involved with the evolution of our world and in the universe. The human being is material and spirit—we have a soul which partly resides and is active within us now while the other half remains in the spirit world. When we are born, a nonmaterial spiritual thread ties both together. When we die or transition as some say, that part of the soul residing in the body, though never truly apart from its spiritual twin, reunites to become the whole soul [‘I’ is how anthroposophists refer to the soul]. This soul then remains in the spirit realm to be continually worked upon by higher or more advanced spiritual forces, for example spiritual hierarchies, before being permitted to reincarnate back into human form on Earth.

This brief explanation is fundamental to anthroposophy and certainly to a-em as well. To obtain a complete understanding however, one must possess some knowledge of these atypical concepts. Similarly, if one cares to understand and appreciate homeopathy, too, one must have some awareness, acceptance and belief in the preparation and activity of homeopathic remedies.

It is impossible to go into the detail necessary for the reader to fully comprehend the philosophy and methodology of a-em as much deeper and complex explanations are required. Some of this material is covered in the introductory pages, yet those explanations scratch the surface requiring greater reflection. The study of anthroposophy is a broad one and a life-time endeavour.

‘Medical practice is inconceivable without acknowledging the reality of the soul; a physician with sound clinical judgment knows how to perceive its expression in the face and the movement of the child; above all, a good physician knows how to listen to the child, even to penetrate the auscultation of respiration and heartbeat with empathic awareness’. –p. 19.

‘A central challenge of anthroposophical medicine is therefore to perceive and understand the soul element, not only in the way it unfolds as a conscious level but also in terms of its formative role within the entire bodily organization…’–p. 22.

While one may chart a course of self-study homeopathy and arrive at an acceptable level of competence, that same level within a-em is quite difficult to acquire without some degree of guidance and mentoring.

Before going on to offer a couple of examples from the text, the concept of rhythm is fundamental to a man's health and a-em places great emphasis on the restoration and maintenance of life's rhythms. This aspect is of great importance in the practice of a-em. Another aspect is the emphasis which a-em places on understanding the role which childhood illnesses have on an individual's biography. When allopathic medications are used to curtail those illnesses, a weakening of health occurs in ways that we may not as yet appreciate, that is the unfolding of childhood illnesses is essential for the healthy development and evolution of the individual. Thus, a-em recognizes some utility for immunisations but only when chosen with great care. Childhood illnesses have their own reason, which even today remain shrouded in mystery and thus should not be suppressed. This book contains a 50-page section on vaccination. There are several case studies showing how a-em treats those issues in the ‘Childhood Illnesses’ chapter.

‘…for a long time now, more children in Germany and other western industrialized countries have been dying from diabetes mellitus and asthma than from chicken pox and measles! In contrast to this, recent data point towards diseases such as chickenpox being a protective reaction to the development of diabetes mellitus, topic dermatitis and perhaps even tumours of the central nervous system. The protective action of mumps against ovarian carcinoma in women, and of highly febrile diseases against malignant melanoma, has now been verified’.–p. 325 (references are cited).

The topic ‘Vaccination’ is extensively examined within the ‘Disease Prevention’ chapter. The gamet of vaccines are covered and the authors recommend their conservative, judicious use. They finish their discourse by including an interesting, helpful section entitled ‘Complementary treatment options during and after vaccination – supportive medicinal treatment’ Information on side effects is also presented:

‘In homeopathy, Silicea is considered to be one of the most important medicines for and after vaccination’. The ‘fear of needles and injections’ is well known; curiously, it represents a prominent mental symptom in the medicinal picture of Silicea. In the observation of the authors, children whose constitution is similar to the homoeopathic Silicea type before the vaccination are particularly prone to vaccination side effects.

‘In these children, and for a generally very pronounced fear of injections, treatment with Silicea before the vaccination (starting approximately 4 weeks beforehand) can significantly improve the tolerance of the injection, for example: Quarz D20 pilules Wala or Silicea LM6 dil. Arcana 3-5 pilules or 3 gtt. in water daily in the morning’.

‘Potentised silicic acid in higher potencies also represents an important medicine in the treatment of vaccination side-effects and complications’.–p. 142.

The case study which brings this chapter to an end concerns a 2.5-year-old child with a diagnosis of ‘Infant brain damage, presumably as the result of postvaccinal encephalopathy following second DPT combination vaccination (diphtheria component) with serious impairment of mental development, lack of speech development, considerable impairment of statomotor development with hypotonic infantile cerebral palsy and underlying hemiparesis on the right and symptomatic focal and generalized epilepsy with grand mal and myoclonic seizures’.–p. 145

‘Despite allopathic treatment and treatment by the authors, the patient made little progress. What little progress made seemed to be attributed to dolphin therapy (which took place in the United States) and Secale corn. 12× to 30 × , which displays a special relationship with the vascular pathology as presented, had a beneficial effect alongside Agaricus and others’.–p. 146.

The authors, though decidedly anthroposophists, do not ignore single homeopathic remedies. For instance, in the section devoted to ‘aggressive behaviour disorders’, the major remedies, Bell., Hyos. and Stram., are discussed and differentiated. Sulph., Tarant., Lach, Anac., Hepar sulph. and Plb. are also discussed; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder/attention deficit disorder is exhaustively discussed.

This book is well organized and nicely laid out; quite pleasing to the eye. It makes use of two colour-text highlighting. There are two detailed indices: general and medicine entries.

Though not necessarily for the beginner, much useful and pertinent information can still be gleaned from this seminal work. It will be most useful for the practitioner possessing a solid grasp of homeopathy in combination with a sound understanding of anthroposophy.