Correspondence Address:
Rathin Chakraborty
Member Scientific Advisory Committee, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Honorary Physician to the Governor of West Bengal,
India

Full Text

[AUTHOR:1]Name of the book: Handbook on Homoeopathy: Case taking to Prescribing

Published by: Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy

The Homoeopathic System of Medicine is a time-tested system, but the need of the hour is to make it evidence-based. How to take a case, case analysis and prescription have been described by many, but that information lies scattered in various books authored by the stalwarts of Homoeopathy. Handbook on 'Homoeopathy: Case taking to Prescribing' is a good compilation, which presents the annals of prescribing in a packaged form to beginners.

The first chapter on 'Case taking,' deals with the technique of proper case taking and recording the case in a standardised format for both acute and chronic cases.

The second chapter on 'Case Analysis and Evaluation of Symptoms' forms the foundation required to treat a case. It describes how the symptoms obtained during case taking can be classified into common and uncommon symptoms for the purpose of diagnosis of the disease, individualisation and selection of medicine.

The chapter on 'Miasmatic Analysis' describes the different types of miasms, their manifestations and how to apply the concept of miasm in homoeopathic prescribing.

The selection of medicine after evolving the totality of symptoms is described in the chapter 'Totality of Symptoms,' where the need for repertorisation is also made clear. Once the simillimum is selected, the criteria to select the potency and repeat the dose are highlighted in the following chapter.

The last chapter on the 'Follow-up' illustrates what reactions are expected after administration of a remedy and how these reactions have to be determined and interpreted.

Some of the excellent parts of the book are, the section of 'Occupation' in the case taking chapter which is very well-described, the section on 'Physical Generals' is well-explained, the specimen questions given for eliciting the symptoms of mind are very suggestive, the tabulations done in the case-taking format simplify the storage of data as well as make the retrieving of data very convenient during follow-up. The information under 'Selection of potency' is very clear and well-fortified with examples.

The quality of the book can be further enhanced if proper reference numbers are given in the Bibliography section. For example, it would have been interesting to know which part in 'Case-Taking' has been taken from 'The Lesser Writings' of Hahnemann.

Under the chapter 'Case Analysis and Evaluation of Symptoms,' the evaluation techniques of Kent, Boenninghausen and Boger are discussed. Here, it would have been appropriate to write about Dr. Hahnemann. For a beginner, emphasis should be given on what the 'Father of Homoeopathy' did and after him other names should come. The seven cardinal principles of homoeopathy are nowhere listed out in the book, and they definitely form the strongest basis of every moment from 'Case-taking to Prescribing'. Until these seven are hammered into the minds of nascent graduates of homoeopathy, they will miserably fail in their practice. 'Miasmatic Analysis' is mostly taken from the book by Phyllis Speight, wherein, some original ideas or cases can be cited. Under the chapter on 'Selection of Medicine', finding of Genus epidemicus has been put under the non-repertorial approach. However, once that total symptom list of the prevalent epidemic are in hand, the symptoms can be well-repertorised to arrive at the probable group of medicines, and definitely Materia Medica will be finally consulted for the selection of Genus epidemicus, as in any repertorial approach.

It is suggested that the next edition of the book be brought out after plugging the discrepancies, to make it more comprehensible and acceptable.