Internal Medicine: Foundations and Therapeutic Concepts of Anthroposophic Medicine

In the wake of Drs. med Georg Soldner and Herrmann Michael Stellman's Individual Pediatrics: Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Aspects of Diagnosis and Counseling -Anthroposophic- homeopathic Therapy (2014) comes another Salumed Verlag sockdolager, Internal Medicine by Dr. Girke.

In just under 1,100 pages, the entire breadth of internal medicine from the anthroposophical perspective is covered. Twenty-eight chapters cover all the medical sub-specialities. While all the chapters discuss disease and treatment from that perspective, chapters 2 to 5 are especially devoted to that end: The Concept of the Human Being, The Study of Disease, Medicinal Drugs/Proof of Efficacy/Benefit and From Diagnosis to Therapy - Anthroposophical Medicine Using the Example of Inflammation, respectively.

The 14 pages of Chapter 5 are of particular interest because inflammation is so prevalent in the acute and chronic disease process:

In terms of the treatment of inflammatory diseases, it is important to assess the salutogenetic potential of the patient. A weakened constitution and multimorbidity often justify an antibiotic treatment; conversely, sufficient salutogenetic resources allow the use of salutogenetically oriented remedies. – ibid, p. 128.

While this statement may upset the homeopath, it does provide insight into the make-up of this very young alternative approach. Nonetheless, it goes without saying that there are many useful caveats in this book, which far outweigh the seemingly negative or contradictory ones. In this chapter, for instance, one finds ‘During an inflammation, the catabolic, painful day side with its classical signs of inflammation is in contrast to the regenerative, anabolic night side’. – ibid, p.129. And then there are the typical, purely anthroposophic ones, of which one finds plenty:

Through inflammation, the ensoulded organism can claim an inner space. A foreign quality that invades this inner space is rejected and possibly overcome by an inflammatory reaction. Also, that which has ‘become foreign’ in the organism itself is ‘recognized’ as such and is directed towards inflammatory catabolic processes. – ibid, p. 131.

Many of these interpretations seem to use allopathic jargon, but then that is typical of anthroposophically extended medicine, as it attempts to integrate the two. And since homeopathic remedies are the vehicle, homeopathy is brought along in the current. Steiner provided indications and a pharmacological basis for the use of remedies based on his psychic, intuitive gifts. He has talked very little about provings but does not dispute them. His associates and physicians who followed him further developed his ideas and created more combination remedies as well.

Other theoretical points are covered before the narrative turns practical, discussing pharmacology and Materia Medica.

The polarity which exists between Phosphorus and Argentum is an essential aspect to understand. Argentum is associated with the formative and eliminative (secretive) functions of inflammation, while Phosphorus is associated with the dissolving and heat-generating inflammatory processes. This polarity is further clarified as their opposite relationship to light is explored. Another interesting concept is how silver relates more to the nerve-sense system, while phosphorus to the metabolic-limb system.

Aside from these two remedies, Ferrum, Belladonna, Aconite and Lachesis are dealt with and in a helpful, comparative fashion. This section discusses the use of specific anthroposophical combination remedies, for example Infludo, Pneumodoron, Erysidoron before concluding with a case—‘Escherichia coli sepsis in a case of right-sided pyelonephritis’.

The index, while sufficient, is less than adequate for a book of this size. While each chapter contains reference citations, there is no bibliography.

This volume is comprehensive and if combined with the Soldner/Stellman work will serve as excellent resources for a long and successful practice. Of course, these weighty books will have another function: when mental fatigue sets in, you can take one in either hand and use them as ‘dumbbells!’