Holism, Constitution and Idiosyncracy

Holism, Constitution and Idiosyncracy

Homeopathy is a scientific system of medicine based on the Hippocratic principle “Like with Like” or “similia similibus curentur“, which aims to stimulate the body’s self-healing abilities.

The key feature of homeopathic medicine, as well as other alternative therapies, is the linked concept of “Holism, Constitution and Idiosyncracy“: Homeopathy treats people and not diseases. In prescribing a remedy, homeopaths take those 3 aspects in serious account.

HOLISM means that in deciding which treatment to select, a homeopath will consider every aspect of the person, every level at which the illness or disease is expressing itself and most of all the degree, intensity and modalities of such expression (i.e ten people might suffer from gastritis but manifest and express the ailment and the symptoms each one in different ways, with different intensity and modalities even if the pathology is actually the same).

CONSTITUTION refers to the type of person as a whole. It includes factors such as build, personality, general physical features (such as intolerance to cold and/or heat, for example) and susceptibility to develop particular illnesses.

IDIOSYNCRASY describes a person’s unusual or atypical features or unexpected reactions to a health problem from which they suffer (homeopaths usually refer to this as strange, rare and peculiar symptoms).

Nowadays, in the cybernetic time of internet, it is very common to read about homeopathic tips and treatments for what are usually called “acute states“, referring to common colds, flu, cough, allergies and such..

in homeopathy actually we learn in college that even a common cold or a flu is a chronic expression of the disease within the body.

Acute states by definition are those which happen only once in the individual’s life. When a person experiences recurrent colds or coughs or flu it means that that particular person’s susceptibility is deranged: the overall state of health or balance of that individual will show the disease at the level where his energy (Vital Force) has become more sensitive.