Cancer - Spectrum of Homeopathy 02/2014

Declan Hammond writes in the current issue of SPECTRUM: “Regardless of the prognosis given, or how unlikely this outcome might be medically, as soon as the word 'cancer' is mentioned, the patient’s mind turns to their own mortality.” It is not just the patient who is confronted with the fact of their mortality, but also doctors, family and friends. Cancer treatment is therefore not just a medical but also a human and personal challenge.

SPECTRUM Cancer showcases an impressive range of treatment options, giving us fresh heart to take on this formidable challenge. Jean-Lionel Bagot uses homeopathy to treat the various side effects of conventional cancer treatment, so forging links to conventional medical treatment. Anne Schadde focuses on the process of inner transformation. Sujit Chatterjee and Sunirmal Sarkar concentrate on the current symptoms presented by the patient. When treating cancer, Alok and Aditya Pareek rigorously follow Hahnemann's precepts for the treatment of chronic illness. For Dietmar Payrhuber and Christiane Kernstock, the key indicators leading to the homeopathic remedy are the psychodynamics, personality and central themes in the life of the cancer patient.

A series of case histories from very different types of cancer documents the efficacy of homeopathy even in apparently hopeless situations. Yet Jens Wurster, drawing on 15 years of experience with the homeopathic in-patient treatment of cancer at the Swiss Clinic Santa Croce, states clearly that this is not the rule. He realistically describes his personal development to an individual, stage-appropriate approach, devoid of theoretical baggage. Wurster often uses acute or organotropic remedies as the starting point, before proceeding to the constitutional level.

Many of the authors in this issue write in a similarly pragmatic style, encouraging above all those colleagues who have not yet felt confident enough to treat cancer patients in their own practices. There is a scarcely another diagnosis for which there are so many different possible methods of homeopathic treatment. Precisely because there is no standard homeopathic treatment – although there are approved indications for certain types of cancer – this issue of SPECTRUM offers a raft of suggestions so that each homeopath can discover his or her own individual approach to this issue.