The Role of Characteristic Symptoms in Individualized Homoeopathic Prescribing

Research Article

Abstract

Homoeopathy treats the person who has the disease, not the disease label alone. Because many patients share one diagnosis, the choice of a similimum depends on the features that set one patient apart from another, namely the characteristic symptoms. This article reviews the concept as framed by Hahnemann, Boenninghausen, Kent, Boger and later authors, explains how such symptoms are recognised, graded and used, and offers a stepwise scheme for prescribing. A comparison table, a hierarchy chart and a flow diagram are provided for teaching. The limits of the method and the evidence debate are also discussed.

Keywords characteristic symptoms; individualization; totality of symptoms; organon of medicine; repertorisation; similimum