7/31/2019 Anthroposophic Medicine

1/6

Anthroposophic Medicine

Anthroposophic medicine understands the human beingto be a dynamic interplay of at least four open systems.They can be seen as constituting a hierarchy of mutualinteraction.

One system described by conventional physiology andmedicine can be termed the physical body. Its laws areclosely related to the laws of physics and chemistry. The

second represents a higher stage of biological organisationand functioning. It is particularly connected with theprocesses of differentiated growth, tissue repair and self-healing. The third system relates to sentience, instinctivedrives, emotions and the more fixed aspects ofpsychological functioning. The fourth system is moreconnected to self-consciousness, as opposed to meresentience. In transpersonal psychology it is referred to as

the true self. This is the emergent core of the humanbeing. It has to do with those aspects of the I that can be

http://test.anthroposophic-drs-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/plant2-220.jpg

7/31/2019 Anthroposophic Medicine

2/6

self-reflective and bring about transformative changes inthe psychological functioning of the third system.

Demonstration of Gold dissolving in Mercury

Human life offers the possibility of individualdevelopment and evolution as well as social development.

Understanding and treating illness needs to take accountof all four systems, not only to optimise therapeuticoutcome but to facilitate personal growth anddevelopment. Developing an awareness of treatmentoptions within each of the four interrelating systems mayfacilitate the self-healing and includes the activeparticipation of the patient. Exclusive concentration on thefirst system has an inherent tendency to encouragepassivity, dependency, chemical consumerism andassociated iatrogenic hazards.

http://test.anthroposophic-drs-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/seminar3.jpg

7/31/2019 Anthroposophic Medicine

3/6

Artwork on the theme of asthma Cherry Orchards Camphill Community,

Bristol

In practice, patients mainly present with physicalsymptoms and are concerned about the possibility ofserious organic illness (level one). The physicians firstobligation is to make an accurate diagnosis. This shouldnever ignore pathology at the physical level but shouldalso explore to what extent disturbances at higher levelsmay be aetiologically implicated. There is a sense thatwhere successful therapeutic intervention and change canoccur on a higher level of this hierarchy, the greater thesignificance for the patients long-term health andpersonal development. For example, if symptoms can be

relieved or a positive therapeutic outcome achievedthrough the use of herbal or homoeopathic medicines,which work via the second level, self-healing isstrengthened. This improves the chances for maintainingfuture health and incurs less danger of chemicaldependency and of inducing significant side effects.

http://test.anthroposophic-drs-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/paint012.jpg

7/31/2019 Anthroposophic Medicine

4/6

Movement session during asthma seminar, Cherry Orchards Camphill

Community, Bristol

If positive changes occur in the third or the fourth levels,the patient has been consciously involved, owns thechanges, is likely to have developed as an individual andhis future insight and self-management has a greaterchance of being health promoting.

Antonovsky linked his concept of Salutogenesis to theindividuals sense of coherence, an awareness that lifeand its difficulties are there to be engaged with and thatthis can be creative and meaningful. The greater the extentthat the patient can be involved in the healing process, thegreater is his autonomy strengthened and the less thedanger of medical dependency.

The capacity for freedom is a core element of the humancondition and of human development. The respect for

http://test.anthroposophic-drs-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/eu08.jpg

7/31/2019 Anthroposophic Medicine

5/6

personal freedom and the patients right to make choicesis enshrined in medical ethics. A deep respect for freedomof choice must be particularly emphasised in an approachto medicine which aspires to facilitate personal

development as well as physical healing.

Plant drawing in herb garden, St Luke's Medical Centre

In consequence, offering patients the opportunity to makegenuinely informed choices is essential. This includes theirright to choose a more passive chemical approach to theirtreatment as well as the option to choose approachesworking on higher systems levels. The physician needs toregularly monitor the level and nature of his or hertherapeutic mandate, which can itself evolve and changeover time. He needs to be able to accomodate to situationsin which there is divergence between his or hertherapeutic recommendations and the patients wishes.

http://test.anthroposophic-drs-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/groupgarden.jpg

7/31/2019 Anthroposophic Medicine

6/6

Pharmaceutical demonstration by Albert Schmidli

This medical discipline was inaugurated in the early 1920sthrough the collaboration between Rudolf Steiner and DrIta Wegman and is part of the world-wideanthroposophical movement, which also includes, Steiner

Waldorf Education and Biodynamic Agriculture.Anthroposophic medicine recognises the validity of thefindings of natural science and sees the need tocomplement this otherwise one-sided approach totreatment, if medicine is to develop into a science and artintegrating knowledge of body, soul and spirit.

http://test.anthroposophic-drs-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/seminar9.jpg