Finding the Right Remedy: A Brief Look at Homeopathic Remedy Selection

With over 4,400 homeopathic remedies to choose from, most Homeopaths have a rough time narrowing down the one that will begin the person’s healing process. Today I’d like to discuss some of the different methods available to Homeopaths to help them determine the best remedy.

But first, I believe it would be a good idea to dispel a couple of myths so that this article will make more sense.

Myth 1: all Homeopaths do the same thing. This is not true. There are 2 types of Homeopaths: Classical and Modern. A Modern Homeopath will look at a person’s symptoms and try to manage them with homeopathy. They will look at the top 10 remedies for diabetes, for example, and give all 10 remedies, hoping that the diabetes will be managed by at least 1 remedy in that mixture. Healing is not in their vocabulary—they just do symptom management.

Classical Homeopaths look for healing. They will analyze everything about you and find that 1 remedy to start the healing. The focus is always complete removal of the disease as well as the disease process. I always say: “When it’s time to heal, call a Classical Homeopath.”

This article pertains to the remedy selection by a Classical Homeopath.

Myth 2: homeopathy is just like herbs and other supplements. This is not true. An herb has certain uses because it causes chemical changes in the body—in Garlic’s case it is good for the heart and can “thin” the blood. For everyone taking Garlic, it will do the same thing. It can rarely do anything but help the heart and blood.

Homeopathic remedies can help an assortment of ailments both mental and physical. A remedy may have key uses for ACUTE cases, but when it comes to working with CHRONIC concerns, anything goes. So long as the remedy matches the person, it can be used.

So, looking at Classical Homeopathy, let’s look at some of the ways Classical Homeopaths select a remedy for a person.

The Short-Cutter

Yes, even Homeopaths can find a shorter way of doing a job. There are some Homeopaths who have a few favorite remedies and those remedies are all they use. One Homeopath uses only 3 remedies!: Sepia for women, Sulphur for men and Pulsatilla for children. It doesn’t matter the health challenge—those are the 3 he uses. If the person doesn’t respond…well, then he tells them that homeopathy cannot help them. Needless to say, people rarely heal under his care.

Another uses the Periodic Table of Elements and looks at the person’s personality to pick a remedy. As there are different mental behaviors that determine if a person should get a mineral versus an animal or plant remedy, this person is severely limiting his ability to help the animal and plant people.

The Purist

Purists will only use a remedy with the highest number of hits in the Repertory. The Homeopathic Repertory is a comprehensive list of all remedies known to help a given symptom/condition. The Purist will take the list of physical symptoms a person has, look them up in the Repertory and find the remedies that match all or most of the symptoms. If 10 remedies show up as matching all the person’s symptoms, then the person gets those 10 remedies. If only 1 matches, then the person gets the 1.

For example, in the repertory there are 945 remedies for a headache. If the person also has nausea, then there are 1054 remedies. Add diarrhea, 897 remedies. But put these 3 together and there are only 108 that match all 3 symptoms. So, then the purist adds a few more symptoms, such as stomach pains (354 remedies) and symptoms are worse after drinking alcohol (56 remedies). The over-lap is 12 remedies. If the Purist is OK with that, then the person gets 12 remedies. If not, then he will continue to add another symptom or two until he gets fewer over-laps.

The draw-back of this approach is that it doesn’t factor in the person’s personality or how he/she reacts to the world. Often the Purist’s remedy selection fails.

The method, however, is helpful for ACUTE conditions when you need only look at the physical symptoms.

The Simplistic Method

Using the Repertory, you look for the symptom that is most comprehensive for the physical problem. Using headache as an example, you get as much information about the headache as possible. The headache is on the right side, it is sharp pain that is worse with movement in the morning upon waking. Taking that sentence, you find 3 remedies. Those are the 3 the Homeopath will give you for your headache. As with other short-cut methods, the remedy usually fails.

Who Are You Method

Some Homeopaths believe that all you need to match a person to a remedy is who they are. These practitioners look at personality and how the person interacts with the world. They don’t look at all at the physical symptoms because they believe that only mental and emotional problems cause all physical symptoms.

Whereas I believe that emotions and thought processes impact health, I believe that the physical manifestations of a disease need to be considered when selecting a remedy. Again, this method usually fails.

The Sensation Method

This is the method I use, with a mix of intuition. The Sensation Method has several stages, each designed to dig deeper and deeper into the person’s state of health, to a place where physical and mental become more universal. The further down I go, the more likely I will be successful in determining a remedy that will help the person heal. I gather all this information during the initial interview.

The first stage is NAME: what is the situation. Let’s use “I have asthma.” The second stage looks at FACTS: “My asthma is worse after midnight, better with warm air…”. Stage 3 is EMOTION: what is the emotion behind the asthma. “I get angry when I have trouble breathing.”

Stage 4 (DELUSION) starts the merging between mental and physical. Tell me about the anger; when are you angry other than having trouble breathing. “I get angry when people at work don’t appreciate me. I get pushed around a lot.” Now we are no longer looking at the asthma but looking at the person.

Stage 5 is the SENSATION. What does it feel like when you are being pushed around by others? “I feel like I am being strangled.” The sensation of feeling like being strangled is more universal than asthma which is just physical. The sensation applies to both the physical being and the psychological person.

Stage 6 is ENERGY which is something you see, not something that the person discusses. You watch the person’s body language and gestures. It kind of confirms the sensation. For example, if the person is discussing strangling and uses his hands to demonstrate twisting, or like wringing the neck, then you have your confirmation.

Based on the interview, you determine if the person is a plant, mineral or animal person (another article entirely) and how deep the person is affected by the disease state (also another article entirely). If the person is a plant person (meaning sensitive to his/her surroundings or to multiple things), you need to look for the plant that has the sensation of strangulation (there are several), then look at the depth of the disease state. You use other information gathered from the interview to determine which of the plant families is accurate then you have your remedy.

It may sound easy, but it is tricky, especially if the person can’t get beyond stage 3, or even get to the sensation. This is when intuition must be used. Still, remedy selection is best when you get to the sensation or at least to the level of delusion.

It might sound like most homeopathic methods for selecting a remedy are failures, but that isn’t the case. There are several that are very comprehensive. I have listed only a few of those that don’t work to show that it takes more effort to find a healing remedy than just taking a short-cut. The initial interview for a true Classical Homeopath is often 2 hours; the process of finding a remedy can take more than 6 hours beyond this which is why most Homeopaths take short-cuts.

I have tried several methods of remedy selection and settled on the Sensation Method because it makes sense and I have had wonderful success in helping others.

When it’s time for you to heal, find out which method your Homeopath uses. I urge you not to use someone who takes short cuts—your health is too important.

Best wishes,
Dr. Ronda Behnke
Homeopathic Centers of America

Disclaimer: The information provided by Dr. Ronda Behnke is for educational purposes only. It is important that you not make health decisions or stop any medication without first consulting your personal physician or health care provider.