Psyche and Substance

Review

This book review is reprinted from The Homoeopath with permission from Nick Churchill of The Society of Homoeopaths.

reviewed by Adam Martanda

Adam Martanda RSHom practices in Derbyshire where he is Principal of the Small School of Homoeopathy.

I must, at the beginning of this review, make a confession, admit to a bias. I have, recently, had the great pleasure and privilege to meet and talk with the remarkable author of this remarkable book. This in itself, is sufficient to produce a warm glow when asked to review this, the latest edition of some of his most important written work. In addition I have been studying his writings for many years and consider them to be some of the most influential books for me as a practising homoeopath and as a student of the human condition.

So with this in mind I offer this appraisal of the 2nd Edition of Psyche & Substance. The most striking thing about this book is the breadth of vision encapsulated within its pages. Here we have a clear demonstration of the necessity of a broad philosophical base for the effective study and practise of homoeopathy. Even the awesome mind of Hahnemann did not demonstrate this so clearly. Whitmont is a polymath, a New Renaissance man, who has dug into the breadth and depth of medical history, the natural sciences, religion and mythology, and the full spectrum of human experience to bring to light something of the mystery of existence. And yet, for all that, what is most clear is a great humility, a genuine recognition of how little we really know. He offers more questions than answers, more strands for us to follow, more things to ponder. He gently points us towards a task which he sees as being in the nature of an imperative, if we are to successfully undertake the role of homoeopath. Not simply to become technically competent, but to struggle to make the synthesis he himself is still attempting. To become an effective healer.

Whitmont begins the book with an overview, in which he explores the field of homoeopathy, as an art and science operating within the realm of nature. His references extend way beyond the narrow field of what we might normally define as homoeopathy. He offers us insights from philosophy, psychology, physics and much more, pointing us towards extensive bodies of knowledge beyond the often dry material associated with homoeopathy. The breadth of his study and his obvious understanding of these various disciplines is quite simply breathtaking.

In part two we are re-introduced to some old friends from our materia medica, though these old friends now reveal fresh aspects of the totality of themselves, and become clearer through this revelation. We are reminded that the remedy pictures to which Hahnemann referred, are living entities or archetypes through which nature reveals more of the mystery of life.

In addition to these old friends, there are three new ones Lactrodectus mactans, Mandragora, and Aristolochia clematis. Each of these is introduced and described with insight, clarity, and enthusiasm. It is this quality of enthusiasm, so striking when talking with Whitmont, that pervades the book. Here is someone who after a life-time of committed work in the field, is still bursting with lively interest, still exploring, experimenting, questioning, still actively involved and still healing.

The third section of this extremely readable book relates to practice. In this he offers us insights into his own methods of case-analysis and practice management. 'Me related essays in this section are concerned with the problems of chronic prescribing, psychosomatics, differential diagnosis, and surgery. In each of these Whitmont reveals more of his extraordinary capacity to relate the parts to the whole.

The fourth and final section of the book, Case Studies, presents a selection of material ranging from practical clinical work to Whitmont's deep insights into the theory of miasms. In this section we can see for ourselves how the wide ranging mind of this true physician has truly 'dared to taste and understand'.

I recommend this book to all who are concerned to further their understanding of the art and science of healing. In particular to those fellow students and practitioners who sometimes become discouraged by the daily demands of practice. This is a book to stimulate fresh impetus, to refresh the senses, to inspire, to inform, to enlighten the load. I for one would not be without it. Aude Sapere.

The Homoeopath Vol.11 No.3 1991

This book review is reprinted from the British Homoeopathic Journal Volume 72, Number 4, October 1983, with permission from Peter Fisher, Editor.

When people speak of "psychosomatic medicine", they usually mean attempts to treat physical disorders by psychological methods, or, less often, the treatment of psychological disturbances by physical means. Homoeopathy is the only form of therapy known in the West which considers and treats the two simultaneously, and with the same medicine.

No one is better qualified to speak of this than Dr Edward Whitmont, whose name must be familiar to those who have been readers of the British Homoeopathic Journal during the last thirty years. He qualified in medicine in Vienna in 1936, and studied the work of Alfred Adler and of Rudolf Steiner, together with several other aspects of holistic medicine, before he came to learn homoeopathy from Elizabeth Wright Hubbard in New York. He subsequently practised and taught homoeopathy at the Postgraduate School of the American Foundation for Homeopathy. At the same time he became increasingly interested in the work of C. G. Jung, and underwent the long training in Analytical Psychology, which he now practises in New York. During this time he has presented numerous talks and articles on the relations between homoeopathy and analytical psychology, and these were collected to form the present book.

It is presented in three sections:

Part I discusses the principles of homoeopathy from an analytical psychologist's point of view. There are chapters on the Law of Similars, and Constitution and Disposition, and Unitary Field Theory is considered as a possible model for the remedy/symptom/symbol complex.

Part II is about Homoeopathic Remedies and their Archetypal Forms. There are eleven chapters devoted to drug pictures from an unusual point of view, supported by case-histories. Whilst most of the remedies described are well-known polycrests-Sulphur, Phosphorus, Sepia, Lachesis, Nat. mur.-there are also some very sensitive studies of less frequently used remedies, such as Mandragora, Carbo animalis, Aristolochia clematitis and Latrodectus mactans.

Part III is concerned with homoeopathic practice and the Soul-Body relationship in prescribing, an approach to chronic disease and a differential diagnosis of impatience (25 remedies). It is evident that as far as homoeopathy is concerned, Dr Whitmont follows a strictly Hahnemannian approach. The book ends rather unexpectedly with a comment on the present-day attitude to surgery.

It is difficult to do justice to this book in a review, because one cannot really write "about" it. Every chapter needs to be read slowly, digested, absorbed ... Dr Whitmont's erudition is immense, but his style is deceptively simple and easy to read. It is not so easy to retain what one has read because of the depth and complexity of the ideas presented, and the further perspectives which they indicate. The case for a parallel relationship between homoeopathy and analytical psychology is made but not stressed. It is characteristic of this author that he states the case and leaves the reader to make up his own mind.

I can strongly recommend this book to any homoeopath who wishes to extend his psychological insights, and to any psychologist who wishes to learn something valuable about homoeopathy.

M. HARLING

British Homoeopathic Journal
Volume 72, Number 4, October 1983