Words: Team THINKWELLNESS360
Dr Jan Scholten, MD, Knight in the Dutch Order of Orange Nassau, the Netherlands, is a renowned homeopath-researcher.
He brings to homeopathy not only his knowledge of medicine, but also of chemistry, mathematics, and philosophy. He calls himself a scientist, making good use of solid information and logical thinking. At the same time, he stands open to information derived through the senses, thus synthesising right and left brain in his research. He has conducted several medicinal ‘provings’ and has furthered not only our understanding of remedies, but of homeopathy in the broader context.
His book, Homeopathy and the Minerals, is a landmark. To paraphrase Dr Jackie McTaggart, a UK-based homeopath, it is the best introduction for the group analysis method —the method of thematic prescribing developed by him and his colleagues — for the homeopathic community. It comprises the study of a group of remedies rather than individual remedies. For instance, when you look at Natrums, you should look at the whole Natrum group — Natrum carbonicum, Natrium muriaticum, Natrum phosphoricum and Natrum sulphuricum.
Dr Scholten’s work distils such themes and characteristics that are common to the whole group, and juxtaposes their overall picture, while applying them to the less known, or unknown Natrums. It, thus, brings in a whole new world of previously unknown mineral remedies into practice. It also overcomes archaic theories.
The process augments that there is order in the symptoms of a remedy, that they are not simply random, and there is logic in nature and, therefore, logic and structure in homeopathic remedy pictures.
Albert Einstein too had a deep conviction in the rationality of the universe.
Dr Scholten’s work combines elements with salts and opens up new and exciting possibilities for a much more precise simillimum [the best indicated homeopathic remedy for the given patient] than the repertory, the index of homeopathic remedies, could ever provide. The beauty of the group analysis method is:
- It is easier to remember a larger number of remedies in groups
- It is easier to recall homeopathic remedy pictures, because there is a sequence and a structure to the basic concepts
- It is easier to distinguish what symptoms are relevant
- It is easier to find the real simillimum rather than ‘make do’ with a remedy that is approximate, but is not exactly right.
Dr Scholten, as Dr McTaggart underlines, applies his understanding of group analysis to the whole periodic table, the table of elements, or atoms, the basis of chemistry, including the entirety of known minerals. This opens the door wide enough for the possibility for one being able to prescribe all the elements, unlike before when homeopaths only used a fraction of them.
To pick aphorism 119, from Dr Samuel Hahnemann’s groundbreaking book, Organon, which outlines the fundamentals of homeopathy, “Every mineral and salt differs from all others, in its external as well as its internal physical and chemical properties, which alone should have sufficed to present any confounding of each with the other. As they all differ and diverge among themselves in their pathogenic and consequently in their therapeutic effects, there can be from a medical point-of-view, no equivalent remedies whatever; no surrogates.”
With Dr Scholten’s discovery of a pattern behind the periodic table and the essence of the rows and columns within it, a possibility has emerged to predict the picture of each. Dr Scholten equates the pattern of the periodic table to the pattern of and development of life in the sequence of the elements. The theory allows him to classify homeopathic remedies in groups, or families, identifying the series [horizontal groupings] and stages [vertical groupings] of the periodic system in order to find the most suitable pattern similar to the patient’s suffering.
To start with, Dr Scholten prescribed certain lesser-known remedies, sometimes on only one, or just a few symptoms, or on the ‘computation’ of a symptom-picture. Hence, the picture of each had to be ascertained from scratch. As his understanding expanded, he was increasingly able to prescribe well-indicated remedies, with clinical finesse and substantiation. The picture, as a result, evolved. It was, thereafter, enriched in tune with the healing response in patients.
This may be best illustrated in a brace of cases that ‘compounds’ chronic fatigue syndrome [CFS] with ‘academic failure’ — by courtesy of Dr J Geraghty, a homeopath — while highlighting the mind-body connect. It brings home the principle, or raison d’être, of Dr Scholten’s pioneering endeavours in homeopathic therapeutics.
Case-1
There was a nineteen-year-old patient who developed chronic fatigue syndrome [CFS] after repeated infections. She also reported of a series of academic failures. She was treated with Cobaltum phosphoricum 1M, three doses, twelve hours apart. At two months, she was much better and, at two years, she had academic success. There is a link between Phosphorus and siblings. The subject was jealous of her brother’s easy success in business. According to Dr Scholten, Cobaltum phosphoricum helps when people “are afraid that they will fail their exams, because they haven’t done enough.”
Case-2
There was a female patient with chronic fatigue syndrome [CFS] and glandular fever, three months after enrolling at the university. She had broken up with her boyfriend six months before. She overslept with fatigue for a week. She was treated with Calcarea phosphoricum 200C, three doses. Within two weeks, she was better; after three months the physical fatigue was gone and she was happier. At four months, she split up with her boyfriend, again, and Calcarea phosphoricum was given yet again. Calcarea phosphoricum is beneficial when there is a desire to travel, or one is agog with dissatisfaction, with a craving for smoked foods. The patient had such symptoms.
Case-3
There was a thirty-one-year-old male patient with increasing fatigue for two years, along with general muscle aches. He was in the creative arts and was overworked. He was given Medorrhinum 200C, three doses. At thirteen months, he was given Cadmium phosphoricum 200C, three doses, which made the difference. The dosage was changed to 30C, thrice monthly at sixteen months. Dr Scholten recommends Cadmium phosphoricum for “decay and repetition in the performance of the arts. [They] become a bit too dramatic. They want to translate everything into art.”
Dr Scholten’s Theme-Prescription
A woman, aged forty, presented with premenstrual syndrome [PMS]. She is depressed and needs support to maintain her trust in love and relationship. She is irritable towards her children before her periods. She is a homeopath, having chosen the profession because of its holistic and individualistic approach. She has been divorced, leaving the marriage as she felt limited and narrowed down. Independence, freedom, self-reliance, and making her own decisions are important for her; it is necessary for her to make a connection with herself, to know who she is. In this case, we see the theme of fighting for her freedom and against limitation [Lanthanides] in her marriage [Sulphur]. The Lanthanide themes are found in being a homeopath, and in the holistic, individual aspect, with a pressing need for independence and freedom.
Dr JAN SCHOLTEN, MD, is a well-known medical doctor specialised in homeopathy. He has practised for over 30 years. A researcher, who has discovered the classification of Minerals and Plants, Dr Scholten has also added several remedies to the homeopathic Materia Medica. He has written many books. The most outstanding and well-known are on his discoveries of the elements of the Periodic System. He has been well-received internationally and he has given many lectures/seminars all over the world too. He has started and is also contributing to the website, Qjure. Qjure is an encyclopedia of homeopathic knowledge. Dr Scholten lives in the Netherlands.
