Homeopathy
is a medical theory and treatment system that purports to promote
natural healing by means of extremely diluted and "potentized"
substances that are purported to stimulate the body's own healing
mechanisms gently, rapidly and reliably. This article does have
Macintosh relevance, but first a bit of background on homeopathic
medicine.
Originally developed in Germany about 200 years ago by Samuel
Hahnemann, a medical doctor who gave up conventional practice
because he found medical therapies of the time ineffective and
dangerous, homeopathy spread throughout Europe and to North
America. By 1900, some 20 to 30 percent of all physicians used
homeopathy.
There were 22 homeopathic medical schools, over 100 homeopathic
hospitals, and over 1,000 homeopathic pharmacies in the US in the
late 19th century. Many homeopathic practitioners were graduates of
elite medical schools at Harvard University, Dartmouth College,
Boston University, the University of Michigan, the University of
Iowa, etc. Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital was originally a
homeopathic institution.
Homeopathy never ceased being a significant force in European
medicine. Members of the British Royal Family have long been
enthusiastic homeopathic patrons, and a British Medical Journal
survey found that 42% of UK physicians have referred patients to
homeopathic therapists. Eleven thousand French MDs use homeopathy,
and in Belgium, 84.5% of all homeopathic treatments are prescribed
by conventional practitioners.
Indeed, some aspects of modern medical treatment - immunization
using vaccines, for example - are somewhat resonant of homeopathy
in principle. The use of nitroglycerine under the tongue to relieve
angina has been a standard medical treatment prescribed by
establishment physicians since the early 1900s and is also
analogically homeopathic in nature.
After the turn of the 20th century, homeopathy retreated to the
fringes of North American medical practice until a mid-century
resurgence of interest in wholistic medicine resulted in something
of a renaissance. Now homeopathic products are one of the
fastest-growing sectors in the North American nutraceuticals
market.
Homeopathic medicines are also used effectively in veterinary
applications, discrediting skeptics' frequent assertions that any
apparent positive results homeopathic treatment might achieve are
due to the power of suggestion or the placebo effect. Homeopathy's
effectiveness in treating infants also contradicts the placebo
rationalization.
Homeopathic theory assumes that each living organism is in an
ongoing dynamic process of adjusting to the surrounding
environment. Humans constantly come into contact with substances
that influence this adaptive flow. Homeopathy seeks to stimulate
the body's innate healing powers by activating and optimizing its
defense systems.
A homeopathic practitioner evaluates each patient's health
wholistically, rather than concentrating on individual symptoms.
Patients are interviewed extensively to determine in great detail
the condition that caused them to seek treatment. Additionally, the
homeopath will need to learn about emotions and mental attitudes,
the patient's sense of well-being, likes and dislikes, etc. This
information allows the homeopath to determine the appropriate
treatment.
Homeopathic medicines are prepared by repeatedly diluting and
succussing (vigorously shaking) various plant, animal, and mineral
materials. For example, one drop of a tincture is diluted with ten
drops of water and succussed to make a 1x potency. A 12x potency
would have gone through this process 12 times - serial dilution
followed by succussion.
Such small doses seem nonsensical in terms of conventional
pharmaceutical theory, but homeopathic theory contends that small
doses of medicine stimulate, medium doses paralyze, and large doses
kill or suppress. Hormones and other physiologically active
substances are present in the body in amounts so small as to have
only recently been measurable.
Still, homeopathy - safe, relatively cheap medicines, no side
effects, no risk of overdose - sounds too good to be true, and many
believe that it is. On the other hand, while nobody really knows
how homeopathy works, it has confounded skeptics who have attempted
to prove that it doesn't.
Professor Karen Nieber, head of the institute for pharmacy at
Leipzig University, set about proving that homeopathy does not work
and at most can be explained by the so-called placebo effect.
Her
experiments indicated otherwise.
A
meta-analysis of clinical trials of homeopathy by
Kleijnen J, Knipschild P, ter Riet G., Department of Epidemiology
and Health Care Research, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The
Netherlands, concluded: "The results showed a positive trend
regardless of the quality of the trial or the variety of homeopathy
used. Overall, of the 105 trials with interpretable results, 81
trials indicated positive results whereas in 24 trials no positive
effects of homeopathy were found."
One of the great advantages of homeopathic treatment is that
there are no known side-effects, even with long-term use, and
dosages are not critical. For example, a standard dose for most
homeopathic medicines is three to five pellets, but product
directions state that taking a several pellets every five to 15
minutes is appropriate for severe symptoms.
Homeopathic Software
Interestingly, the foremost prescribing reference software used
by homeopaths is a Mac application (there is a Windows version
available as well).
Kent Homeopathic Associates offers a Mac OS X-based
repertorization software tool for homeopathic practitioners called
MacRepertory.
MacRepertory makes it easy to quickly select rubrics and analyze a
case, check the materia medica, and feel more confident about
prescriptions. MacRepertory is reportedly used by virtually every
school and major homeopathic clinic in the US, 80% of American
computerized homeopaths, and more than 5,000 homeopaths
worldwide.
KHA offers two versions: MacRepertory Pro and MacRepertory
Classic. Though both are powerful tools, MacRepertory Pro offers
more advanced customization and analysis features than the Classic
version. Both MacRepertory Pro and Classic are available with
either the Core Library or the Full Library.
MacRepertory Professional
MacRepertory Pro combines a solid, traditional approach to
repertorization with dozens of inspirational features. Our
revolutionary new case analysis template, the Theme Palette,
combines the best of Boenninghausen's generalism with Kent's
specificity. You'll immediately find you are prescribing more
accurately.
The Concept Graph makes differentiating between remedies a
breeze by comparing remedies across sections and concepts
throughout the repertory. At last, the gulf between the materia
medica and repertory has been bridged. Click on a remedy in a
repertory's rubric to leap to its original materia medica reference
in ReferenceWorks. Maybe you want to search in over 600 materia
medica to find every remedy that has a symptom. Click on a rubric
to switch to ReferenceWorks Pro, collect the remedies and paste
them back into MacRepertory Pro.
1,300 families have been thoroughly integrated into MacRepertory
Pro. The program is designed so that anywhere you can display
individual remedies, you can also display the family groups. A set
of graphs illuminate families. The Plant, Animal and Periodic
Tables show exactly which plants, animals or elements are prominent
in a particular case. When you click on a family's square, you'll
see the case's rubrics limited to the remedies in that family.
Click on the "Na" square in the Periodic Table to see every natrum
found in the case. In the Plant Chart, click on a carrot to see all
the remedies made from roots. Or in the Animal Graph, click on the
picture of the snake to see only the snake remedies. If you don't
yet know the features of the familiesm a Family Search makes it
easy to find the groups' central rubrics.
Users can customize MacRepertory Pro to fit their needs, design
strategies that work best for their cases, create their own custom
graphs, choose different color or font schemes for each window, add
to the repertory, and so forth.
MacRepertory Pro includes everything in MacRepertory Classic
plus four bonus programs.
MacRepertory Classic
MacRepertory Classic is software for homeopaths who want a
powerful, complete solution but don't need the advanced analysis
and customization tools that MacRepertory Pro offers. This program
also provides plenty of room to grow as the user's learning expands
- and even serves as a teaching tool through its many books and
resources.
MacRepertory Classic allows the user to create and save patient
charts (complete with remedy plan), reasons why a remedy was
selected, other remedies to consider, graphs of analysis, and more.
Users having trouble remembering where a rubric is in a repertory
can conduct a word search and find it with the click of a mouse. To
find all of the occurrences of a remedy in a repertory, conduct a
remedy search and they will all be located in seconds. You can even
import a rubric from ReferenceWorks to improve case analysis.
Designed by classical homeopaths and graphic artists, the
MacRepertory programs are intended to be intuitive and simple,
while remaining powerful and flexible - with tools to help the
homeopathic practitioner see the big picture while staying true to
the uniqueness of each patient. Combining the approaches of Kent
and Boenninghausen, you can collect the remedies with general
themes and then zero in on the specifics, then analyze the central
problems using only the books that focus on themes such as
Morrison, Boericke, Boger, etc.
All of the sciences have faced the difficulty of discriminating
between large numbers of objects; they've solved it by grouping
similar items into families (think of botany, allopathy, zoology,
psychology). Samuel Hahnemann led the way by suggesting the
separation of the 84 remedies he knew into three miasms. Now that
homeopaths have many more remedies, they need more groupings.
MacRepertory programs make use of 1300 homeopathic "families" to
help the user to find the simillimum more easily. These include the
miasms of Sankaran and Bjørndal, Vega's Boxes,
Mangialavori's families, Morrison's organic chemicals, Scholten's
minerals, König's groups, taxonomy and others.
You can choose to use the programs on a single computer - with
no need for copy protection - or use a key and take the programs
from computer to computer.
MacRepertory Packages
Discovery Package
A solid first step for those just beginning their journey with
homeopathy. Amazingly affordable, our Discovery Package is the
ideal package to get an ample taste of the classic authors.
Classic Package
The Classic Package gives you the basic tools you need to
confidently practice homeopathy in the classical way. You will
relish how quickly and effortlessly the program will enable you to
analyze your cases and find information important to your
studies.
Student Package
The Student Package is for the budding homeopath. Explore the
most innovative version of MacRepertory Pro, graph and search to
your heart's content, and immerse yourself in the largest
ReferenceWorks library ever assembled. Peruse the diverse case
analyses offered by leading homeopaths.
Professional Package
The Professional Package is the most popular package for
homeopaths that are just starting their practice, offering a true,
interactive revolution in homeopathy as you explore, analyze and
research.
The Everything Pro Package is for serious homeopathic
practitioners. It is the most powerful, most comprehensive package
KHA offers.
MacRepertory Pro includes everything in MacRepertory Classic and
four bonus programs.
A MacRepertory Pro
tour is available on the company website.
Hardware Requirements
Macintosh
- Processor: PPC
- System: Mac OS 9.22 or higher or OS X 10.2 or higher (rec
10.3.5 and above).
- Ports: USB available
- Peripherals: CD-ROM drive
Windows
- Processor: 486 or better
- System: Windows 98, 2000, NT, Me, XP (XP users must have MR 6.x
or RW 3.x versions, or higher)
- Ports: Parallel (printer), USB ports (please specify when
ordering)
- Peripherals: CD-ROM drive
KHA recommends 32 MB RAM for MacRepertory Pro and 32 MB RAM for
MacRepertory Classic in addition to individual system requirements.
