This book represents the provisional conclusion of Dr. Luc De Schepper’s textbook series. Like the two previous works – Hahnemann Revisited and Achieving and Maintaining the Simillimum – the practice and practicability of homeopathy is the main focus here as well. This third volume contains, together with additions, refinements and corrections relating to the two previous volumes, a wealth of new material.
In the first part on case-taking, Dr. De Schepper presents eleven key questions that homeopaths should ask after the initial case-taking. If these are answered correctly, it becomes much easier to find the simillimum.
The publisher:

This book is intended to bridge Dr Luc’s two books: Achieving and Maintaining the Simillimum and the book due out in 2009 – Jung: Delusions, Dreams and Homeopathy, which has been the core material of his latest seminars. The latest findings about potencies, miasms and observations of Hering are fine-tuned for clinicians. Furthermore, eleven intra-uterine questions and eleven questions for the homeopath to see if the clinician has the right remedy are explained in detail with clinical examples. In addition, the core delusion is defined and ways of finding it in the clinic are presented. Jung’s introduction of extrovert and introvert types, as well as the functions of consciousness, give the homeopath a solid introduction to using these characteristics to discern the constitution and temperament of the patient. This is an invaluable guide for any professional in practice.

Dr. Luc writes:

INTRODUCTION
I have finally resigned myself to the fact that I will always be writing, despite my previous assertions that “This is my last book.” I am primarily driven by my enthusiasm for continually discovering nuances of this magnificent science that enable me to treat patients more effectively and more quickly than ever before. For the good of humankind, I feel I need to share these realizations with the rest of the world, and then let others decide if there is any reason to be as enthusiastic about them as I am.

While I have already worked a great deal (more than 800 pages written, to be exact) on my next book, “Beyond Jung: Delusions, Dreams and Homeopathy,” I have found it necessary to postpone this colossal work temporarily and create a bridge, so to speak, between my previous works, Hahnemann Revisited and Achieving and Maintaining the Simillimum, and my proposed two-volume Dream/Delusion book.

As I constantly study Hahnemann and the old masters and follow clinical cases, I have experienced the need to correct, or rather fine-tune, some aspects of homeopathic practice. None of these changes are my invention. All the credit goes to Hahnemann, as I am continually astounded at the exactness of his words and advice for homeopathic practice. I hope to present this fine-tuned version to the homeopathic world so that homeopathic practice may become more uniform worldwide, but also so that the student, and yes, the practitioner, whether beginner or advanced, can offer the patient what Hahnemann promised in Aphorism 2 of the Organon:

“The highest ideal is to restore health rapidly, gently, permanently and to remove and destroy the whole disease in the shortest, surest, least harmful way, according to clearly comprehensible principles.”

How every one of Hahnemann’s words still ring true! It is this fact that has motivated me to continue to look for “final” and “easy” principles to apply in the modern world. Notice that I have placed that word final in quotation marks. These principles will never be “final,” but hopefully this will be my “6th edition of the Organon,” if I may be so bold as to make that comparison. I would like to stress that I never fail to take into account “according to clearly comprehensible principles,” those principles so well outlined by Hahnemann.

I have conceived this book as a companion and extended guide to my previous books. It was written for the practitioner and the student to focus on four major issues that are frequent topics of controversy among homeopaths and therefore have a great impact on the way homeopathy is presently practised. I not only intend the reader to become involved and investigate in an academic way, but foremost, I attempt to present information that guarantees the clinician the fastest and most optimal results.

In this book, the reader will FIRST be led to ask eleven essential questions after the patient’s case has been taken according to the principles set forth in my book Hahnemann Revisited. If those eleven questions can be answered correctly, the homeopath will not be led astray and therefore the simillimum will be within reach. This information can be presented to any student and the patient will come alive without even having been seen once. Many aspects of Hahnemann Revisited and Achieving the Simillimum are fine-tuned and answered in these questions. It is like a final summary of observations that encompasses all of the patient’s facets, presenting the homeopath with the simillimum on a silver platter.

This second part of case-taking is not only neglected in allopathic medicine, but it is equally and surprisingly neglected in homeopathy as well: asking about emotional traumas related to the pregnancy to explain the epidemic numbers of challenged children now united under disorder names such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit and Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). There are still many challenged children who do not fall under any of these most prevalent classifications. Of course allopathy is doing its best to come up with new disorders such as Selective Mutism... but these are disease names which will never explain nor answer the two most important questions that parents always ask: “What caused this disorder in my child?” and “What can you do for my child?”

While allopathy remains silent on the first issue, the second is addressed with cumbersome therapeutic approaches that achieve limited success while demanding ever more resources, time and money from all involved. Yet homeopathy has the answer to both questions. This book will help the homeopathic practitioner to zoom in on the “first site of possible emotional trauma”: the uterus. The promised and presumed safe haven/paradise for the unborn child, but where there is plenty of danger.

Allopathy and many homeopaths have still not realised that, besides the miasmatic (hereditary) background, the uterus is the first place where an emotional trauma can be committed against the foetus. While allopathy focuses on every possible physical aspect during pregnancy, physicians still remain totally in the dark regarding emotional traumas to the pregnant mother that result in challenged children.

SECOND, as I read the Organon for the 105th time, I found that the miasms section, a topic extensively discussed in my book Hahnemann Revisited, deserved a fresh look. I have learned to respect to the letter every word that Hahnemann sets forth in these aphorisms. This, together with experience drawn from my practice, has guided me not only to a welcome simplification of miasmatic theory, but also to a doctrine that I can use in the management of the patient. I alluded to this already in Achieving the Simillimum, but in the present book I will connect it to Hering’s Set of Observations of Cure, the guide to true success in practice.

The miasmatic theory has not only been neglected in homeopathic practice, but it is often denigrated by “eminent” homeopaths as nonsense and therefore of no importance in practice. Nothing could be further from the truth. This one aspect of homeopathy makes more and more sense in this complicated world as it explains and predicts many disorders, behaviours and diseases of humankind. This miasmatic theory is Hahnemann’s most important gift to humankind, far ahead of present allopathic genetic science. This book provides the reader with an easier and correct guide to its application in practice.

There is no more contentious topic among homeopaths than the potency selection of the remedy, the THIRD issue in this book. There seems to be no uniform opinion and harsh discussions often take place. Throughout the past 200 years, both camps, high and low potency prescribers, have been involved in heated debates, claiming that they both have experienced success. There is no doubt that this is true, but is there a middle way? Is there a potency choice guided by common sense rather than passion? Is there a potency choice that can satisfy both camps because it makes sense and it is effective?

I wholeheartedly believe there is. In this book I propose a schedule that not only makes great sense, but guarantees greater success in practice. And all is based on Hahnemann’s clear indications. Is this not all that a good homeopath wants? The best for the patient and for homeopathy?

The last and FOURTH topic is Hering’s Set of Observations of Cure. Was everything said by this eminent homeopath? Are there other observations that can be added to assure the homeopath of the direction of cure and the choice of the simillimum? Can allopathic terminology be used to bring Hering’s observations up to modern times? Even Traditional Chinese Medicine provides more answers regarding this Set of Observations in clear and simple terms.

While Hahnemann Revisited and Achieving and Maintaining the Simillimum have, among other excellent literature from dedicated authors, paved the way to the serious study of homeopathy, this latest book has fine-tuned several principles based on science and art, the latter being the confirmation from practice. These changes I propose stem from countless cases in which I have used my newest methodology, including on myself, my beloved wife and my family. Through my seminars, many of my students have already reaped the benefits of this newest information. I believe that the natural order of my books for the practitioner to read is first Hahnemann Revisited, followed by Achieving and Maintaining the Simillimum, followed by the Practical Guide, and this series of homeopathic clinical books will be rounded off by the future book, Beyond Jung: Dreams, Delusions and Homeopathy, which will provide an extensive practical approach to dreams and their homeopathic use, and a new Materia Medica of one hundred polychrests based on the method set forth in this book (the Core Delusion or CD).

May you follow Hering when he said, “Don’t reject anything without trying!” May success in practice be yours so that homeopathy can win the hearts of thousands more and more every day!

Dr. Luc De Schepper