The Art of Case-Taking by Pierre Schmidt, MD [#SCHART]

$29.95

Dr. Pierre Schmidt shows us how to perform the “art of case taking” with Euclidean elegance and ease, going right to the core of the whole matter. And he makes it look easy, without ever cutting corners, or flouting the established protocol of repertorising and prescribing.

Description

The entire homeopathic methodology, the whole monumental and magical action of healing the sick comes down to two things: obtaining from the patient the clearest, most complete knowledge of his condition, and knowing how to use that knowledge properly. That is the whole of homeopathy. The task is Herculean.

Dr. Pierre Schmidt shows us how to perform it with Euclidean elegance and ease, going right to the core of the whole matter. And he makes it look easy, without ever cutting corners, or flouting the established protocol of repertorising and prescribing. These extracts from his teachings do just that, and we publish them to honour his memory.

The present translation by Alain Naud is the only one which has been approved and authorised by the Fondation Homoopathique Pierre Schmidt. It accurately conforms to the original French text of Pierre Schmidts lectures published in the Cahiers Hahnemanniens de Lyon by Jacques Baur, the indefatigable spokesman of Pierre Schmidt and of classical homeopathy.

 

151 pages (paperback)

 

BOOK REVIEW:

This book review is reprinted from Volume 25, Number 3 , Year 2012 edition of the Homoeopathic Links – International Journal for Classical Homeopathy

Reviewed by Francis Treuherz, United Kingdom

The content of this book is engaging and anecdotal, easy to read and full of gems, with few difficulties of translation. The reasons are clear, “Nobody has synthesized the different currents of classical homeopathy more completely than Pierre Schmidt.” The title, while self-explanatory, could be confused with other publications. The subject matter, differentiated into chronic and acute case-taking, is as useful today as when it was written.

I have on my groaning shelves two huge tomes entitled L’enseignement du Pierre Schmidt, textes recueiliis par Dr J Baur. Here I found the two short essays which comprise the first part of this book, on the art of questioning the patient in chronic and in acute cases. But the source book is not credited. Tucked away in a pamphlet file I found a small publication from Calcutta, Defective Illness. Comparing the texts, this is the third chapter of the book under review, and again the source is not credited. Finally there is a short questionnaire based on that used by Kent for his distant patients treated by post. I have myself created a questionnaire for use by email for distant patients, based on Schmidt and Kent’s work as I think it is one of the best.

The new book is not to be confused with two pamphlet publications available in Indian reprints named The Art of Case Taking, and The Homoeopathic Consultation, The Art of Interrogation.

We all think we know how to take a case, we all do it differently, and we can all learn from this book. What caught my attention was the materia medica for the so-called “defective cases” also known as one-sided cases, where the homeopath is unable to elicit enough information. Here Schmidt suggests “reactive remedies” which may help produce more symptoms, a more rounded case, and lead up to a constitutional prescription. The neat summary of acute case-taking is well done, using so many classic sources, and explaining the deeper meanings of why, who, what, where, when, how, and what accompanies.

There are a few pitfalls, the most common translation problem from French to English is transliteration so “traumatism” is used for trauma and “localization” is used for location. Our habit of prescribing 10 M potencies in Anglophone countries has not been noted so the translator suggests XM for example. These apart, this small book reads very well, and will be a joy to read by students and experienced prescribers. But best of all learn French and read the whole two volumes in the original.

 

HERE’S AN EXCERPT OF THIS BOOK

schmidt_the_art_of_case-taking_contents_reading_excerpt

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