Classical Homeopathic Lectures - Volume G

Recensie

This book review is reprinted from the New England Journal of Homeopathy with the permission of Amy Rothenberg, ND, DHANP.

reviewed by Frank Gruber, MD

Pretty sneaky, I'd say. The sound of the standing ovation had barely faded. The large crowd of homeopaths who'd gathered at Cape Cod in August this year to hear Dr. Vassilis Ghegas had just left the lecture hall to pack their bags for their trips back home. For many of the Ghegas trekies that's a transatlantic flight. I was high on homeopathy after listening for 5 full days to carefully honed clinical wisdom presented in the most animated hilarious style. I was chucking softly to myself as I remembered Vassilis differentiating between the religious fanaticism remedies by demonstrating the way the various remedies would pray. In my mind's eye I could still see him tearfully become the pleading Pulsatilla, jump to the emotional Aurum metallicum, then segue into the repentant Lilium tigrinum - each reciting the Hail Mary in Latin - remembering the tears of laughter running down my face.

It was that moment that Dr. Paul Mittman chose to slip a copy of volume G of the compilation of Vassilis' lectures under my arm and asked if I could write a review of the book. Good timing to say the very least. And they say timing is everything.

But if your timing was slightly off, as mine was, and you've missed the first 12 years of these lectures, Dr. Fons Vanden Berghe has come to our rescue. He has compiled the heart of the information in his series books which have recorded these lectures of Dr. Ghegas. Volume G, the 7th in the series, has recently become available in English. Vassilis has a unique ability to appeal to all levels of students at the same time, from beginning student to advanced practitioner. Volume G continues that approach. The book presents materia medica of Kali carbonicum, Lachesis, and Tuberculinum around the central idea of each remedy. It reflects how the central idea plays out on the mental, physical and emotional levels.

Vassilis has a strong pathology background. In discussing each of the 3 remedies he goes into clinical indications, the types of illnesses you would expect to see in each remedy. He discusses how to differentiate these remedies from other remedies that might be similar in certain respects, and what remedies might be expected to follow these remedies.

In other chapters he deals with Trauma. Again he covers all levels of expertise, starting with Arnica, and going all the way through severe multiple trauma injuries such as auto accidents. How to homeopathically treat broken ribs, coughing up blood, blood loss, internal injuries, wound infections, head, back, and eye injuries, nerve, dental, bladder, and skin injuries. And that's not even all of it. It's one of the most complete compilations of trauma remedies I've seen.

If you've ever opened Kent's repertory to a fairly large rubric and wondered which of those remedies you would pick for your patient, you'll appreciate the sections of Volume G on Weakness and Forgetfulness. One chapter explores the most common remedies for forgetfulness based on why it came about: were they born that way, did it follow grief, is it a degenerative process due to arteriosclerosis, is it a toxic effect? These chapters discuss how to differentiate one remedy from the other based on their characteristic symptoms. If you're down to 5 remedies this information will help you to toss away 4 of them and narrow it down to one.

Pregnancy is one factor that may cause the chronic remedy to change to an entirely different remedy. A new layer can get laid down over the current one. Vassilis discusses remedies to use in pregnancy, during threatened miscarriage, during delivery, and after delivery including breast feeding and infections.

Some may complain that Vassilis' pathologic approach is too routine, like a cook book of homeopathy. Vassilis holds that you must treat the person, not the illness, but he feels that knowing the pathology helps you to know which remedy is more likely. Let's face it. In 20 years of clinical practice, some remedies tend to occur more often than others in certain cases. Vassilis is generous enough to share that information with us.

It's unfortunate that in order to keep the vast amount of information as the focus of the book, the reader doesn't get to experience Vassilis' ebullience and humor. The focus of the volume, as with previous volumes, is to also be a reference once you've read it through. You can keep it available when a patient with one of these problems arises.

Volume G may be destined to become one of the better selling of the series simply because of its complete treatment of trauma and ailments during pregnancy and delivery. These two segments alone are gems. But hopefully, from my point of view, Volume G will entice you to get the whole series and become heir to a well arranged body of tremendous clinical knowledge that allows you to quickly access information that will make your practice easier. I remember struggling with a difficult patient and opening one of the volumes where Vassilis discusses a remedy as the first choice for this condition and I realized that was the remedy for my patient. It's happened more than once. That's the benefit of years of experience. Thanks to Vassilis for sharing it and to Fons Vanden Berghe for making it accessible to us all.

Frank Gruber MD practices homeopathy in -Virginia Beach, Virginia.

New England Journal of Homeopathy Volume 5, Number 4