What is Constitutional Remedy Prescribing?
It is similar to putting a complete jigsaw together in one sitting.
Constitutional Remedy prescribing is something you’ll hear talked about amongst enthusiasts of homeopathy. You’ll also hear “classical homeopathy” where only one remedy is given once and then wait and see what happens. And wait…… and wait …… and wait.
“Classical homeopathy” is a phrase coined a few years ago. It doesn’t really tie in with the true philosophies of homeopathy but I do get where it comes from. It would be great if just one remedy given once was enough, but in today’s world this isn’t really viable. We are too complex and complicated and real.
Constitutional Remedy prescribing takes everything into account – what are the main symptoms, what other symptoms do they have, what happened in early childhood, finding out their characteristics and personality traits, how is their relationship, their career, their life, sleep, digestion, recurring complaints, childhood illnesses ……. lots of detailed information required.
Homeopathy is always about the individuality of each person.
In some cases, there are very clear and defined symptoms and the person’s characteristics and traits will back up a good choice of Constitutional Remedy. So it is like completing the jigsaw in one go.
In other cases, it is not so straightforward. That jigsaw is just too complicated to complete in one go – a sequence is needed to complete it.
People’s lives are complicated and we all have baggage, bad things happen to us all. Ill health can then progress into further ill health. So you can end up with layers and layers. Constitutional Remedy prescribing can be too limited if there are multiple layers to a case. What is uppermost (who you are at this moment in time) is ALWAYS the focus and homeopathic prescriptions should match this. It is the only way to do this.
Sometimes there is a definite ‘trigger’ to a case – for example, the death of a loved one. Then the person’s constitutional remedy is not required – a remedy which has a strong Grief affinity is needed. Another ‘trigger’ might be a sports injury – constitutional remedy prescribing definitely not needed here, a remedy focusing on the actual symptoms of the injury is needed (this is acute prescribing).
The limitations of this is that people are complex and have a full history of ‘baggage’ which complicates our health and wellbeing. So can we put the whole jigsaw together all at once – maybe, but sometimes it is easier to build sections of it first and then it easily comes together after a while.
So I’m going to say this LOUD and PROUD.
Constitutional prescribing is not the be all and end all of homeopathy!
Layered Prescribing
This is like deciding to put a particular part of a jigsaw together first. So if you were doing a landscape jigsaw, you might only put the pieces of a tree together first. This is a great first step in getting the whole jigsaw completed.
Once that tree is complete, it looks fabulous, and now you can look at putting together the peak of a mountain in the background. And so on.
This is outright the best way to use homeopathy. One layer at a time. In the Here-and-Now, at this exact point in time.
What needs change and improvement to make your life better?
What do you really need help with right now?
The timeframe on this varies from person to person. It always comes back to INDIVIDUALITY in homeopathy.
Example of when a Constitutional Remedy is not needed
Say …. you have a bony growth on the knuckle of your little finger; but everything else is OK – you are happy and living the life you want.
Do you need a Constitutional Remedy prescribed?
Eh ….. NO!!
You need a remedy (or remedies) prescribed focused on that bony growth on the knuckle of your little finger. End of!!! (we’re probably thinking Calc-flour or Hecla here).
That’s it. Match the individual’s exact symptoms with the remedy picture.
Let me know if you’ve any questions on this.
