AIAPGET Homoeopathy key terms

The law of similars: a substance that can produce a set of symptoms in a healthy person can cure a similar symptom picture in a sick person. It is the foundational prescribing principle of homoeopathy.

A systematic experiment in which healthy volunteers take a substance in repeated doses and record every symptom produced, so that the substance's medicinal action can be documented and used as a prescribing guide.

The collected reference of medicine pictures in homoeopathy, listing for each remedy the symptoms it produced in provings and has cured in practice, organised by body system or symptom hierarchy.

An index of symptoms arranged in a hierarchy of sections, rubrics and sub-rubrics, each linked to graded remedies. It converts a case analysis into a ranked list of candidate medicines.

A single symptom entry in a repertory, such as 'thirst, during fever', under which all remedies known to have produced or cured that symptom are listed, usually with grade marks.

A typographic system in repertories that ranks how strongly a remedy is associated with a rubric, typically using bold capitals, italics or plain type to indicate first, second and third degree.

The complete, individualised picture of a patient's illness, including mental, general and particular symptoms, taken together as the basis for selecting one remedy rather than treating single complaints in isolation.

A striking, characteristic symptom that strongly points to one particular remedy and is often used as a quick prescribing shortcut, especially when it is unusual or peculiar to that medicine.

A medicine chosen to match a person's enduring physical build, temperament and susceptibility patterns, rather than only the acute complaint, and often used for chronic prescribing.

The serial process of diluting a substance in a vehicle such as alcohol or water and succussing it between steps, producing remedies labelled by potency such as 6C, 30C or 200C.

A potency scale in which each step dilutes one part of the previous preparation in ninety-nine parts of vehicle, giving a ratio of 1:100 per step and usually written with the letter C.

A potency scale in which each step dilutes one part of the previous preparation in nine parts of vehicle, giving a ratio of 1:10 per step and usually written with the letter X or D.

A low-dose potency series introduced by Hahnemann in his later years, made by diluting one part of a centesimal preparation in fifty thousand parts of vehicle, intended for frequent repeated dosing in chronic disease.

The concentrated initial alcoholic extract of a plant or other source material from which potentised remedies are prepared, usually designated by the symbol Q or by the Greek theta.

A remedy prepared from disease material such as discharges, infected tissue or a causative organism, used on the principle of similars and often prescribed in chronic or constitutional prescribing.

In Hahnemann's theory, a chronic underlying disturbance that predisposes a person to recurrent disease and shapes its expression; the classical types are psora, sycosis and syphilis.

A temporary worsening of existing symptoms, or the appearance of new ones, shortly after a dose, often interpreted as an initial reaction to a well-chosen remedy rather than a harmful effect.

An observation attributed to Constantine Hering that healing tends to proceed from within outward, from above downward, from more vital to less vital organs, and in reverse order of symptom appearance.

The disappearance of a superficial symptom after treatment while the underlying disturbance persists or shifts to a deeper organ, regarded in homoeopathy as an unfavourable direction of disease.

The principle that the smallest quantity of medicine capable of producing a curative reaction should be given, avoiding unnecessary repetition and reducing the risk of unwanted aggravations.

The practice of prescribing one medicine at a time so that its effects can be observed clearly and the symptom picture can be matched without confusion from multiple acting substances.

A trial design in which one group receives an inactive preparation identical in appearance to the test medicine, allowing researchers to separate specific effects from expectation and natural recovery.

An experiment in which participants are allocated by chance to treatment or comparison groups, reducing selection bias and providing the strongest standard evidence for whether a treatment works.

A statistical method that pools results from several independent studies of the same question to produce a combined estimate, often used to assess the overall evidence for a therapy.

A structured, protocol-driven summary of all relevant research on a defined question, using explicit search and appraisal methods to reduce bias in the conclusions drawn.

Hahnemann's principal theoretical work, setting out the principles of homoeopathic practice, including case taking, remedy selection, potency and dose, and management of chronic disease.

The structured interview in which a prescriber records the patient's complaint, history, mental state, general reactions and peculiar symptoms, forming the raw material for remedy selection.

An unusual, striking or individualising feature of a case, such as a strange modality or rare concomitant, that carries high value in remedy selection because it narrows the field sharply.

A factor that makes a symptom better or worse, such as heat, cold, motion, rest, time of day, food or emotional state, and which helps distinguish between otherwise similar remedy pictures.

A symptom that appears alongside the main complaint and is not obviously part of it, such as headache occurring only with a particular digestive disturbance, often useful for individualising the case.

Two names for the same investigative method: administering a substance to healthy people to map its pathogenetic effects, which then become the basis for matching it to similar patient pictures.

A substance given to stop or counteract the effects of a remedy that has produced unwanted symptoms or an over-strong reaction, chosen on the basis of similarity to the disturbed picture.

A variant approach in which the substance that caused the illness, or a product of it, is used to treat the same illness, differing from classical similars in that the cause itself is the medicine.

A practice of prescribing a potentised form of a drug or toxin that is believed to be causing a patient's current symptoms, in order to counteract that substance's effects.

A repertory-style reference by C. M. Boger that arranges remedies and symptoms in a condensed analytical format, valued for its compact general and particular symptom sections.

A widely used repertory by James Tyler Kent, organised into sections such as mind, vertigo, head and generalities, with remedies graded by degree and many characteristic clinical additions.

An early repertory by Clemens von Boenninghausen built around a small set of general and characteristic symptoms, designed to identify a remedy from a limited but well-chosen symptom set.

An individual's capacity to react to a stimulus such as a medicine, infection or stressor; homoeopathic prescribing considers it when judging potency, repetition and the likelihood of a response.