This book review is reprinted from The Homoeopath with permission from Nick Churchill of The Society of Homoeopaths.
The Family Guide to Homoeopathy: the Safe Form of Medicine for the Future
by Andrew Lockie
ISBN 0241 12158 2
1989, 402 pages
reviewed by Clare Palmer
Clare Palmer is a student at the College of Homoeopathy
and an editor of their student magazine '1M'
This book, written primarily for those who wish to treat themselves or their families but also in the hope that health care professionals will find it useful, is much more than a guide to homoeopathy. Dr Lockie has distilled 16 years of experience as a health care practitioner into an enormous book crammed with information and advice, written mostly in a clear and accessible way. The chapter 'Prevention is better than cure' illustrates his approach well: the topics range from nutrition and exercise to stress and environmental hazard; suggested methods include meditation (with instructions), lessons in Alexander Technique, breathing exercises, how to cope with stress, how to prevent accidents and even what to do in the event of another Chernobyl type incident.
Clearly he is deeply committed to homoeopathy, and concerned at the damaging effect of much orthodox treatment. His introductory chapter 'What is homoeopathy?' is well and concisely written, and includes a substantial section on Hahnemann and his philosophy. There is a list of the sources of the 300 or more remedies mentioned in the book.
Three hundred remedies! This book is not just about first aid or prescribing for a limited range of illnesses, it covers a huge range of diseases among them the most severe pathology, for example, brain tumours, Parkinson's disease, polio, heart failure, thyroid problems. Although he is careful to indicate where he thinks skilled homoeopathic or medical treament is required, and despite the excellent explanations of anatomy and pathology, and the suggestions for self help, I was dismayed at the implied message given by a respected medical homoeopath to try self-prescribing for such serious health problems.
He tries more ambitiously than any other home prescribing book I have seen to take people beyond thumbnail sketches of remedies, but I think his methods are flawed and unlikely to work well. He describes the art of case taking and finding the remedy in 2 brief pages. His readers are referred to the remedies listed under specific ailments, and his General Remedy Finder, which is 36 pages, is derived from Kent's Repertory listing selected mental and general symptoms. I could not find any consitency to his decisions about which remedies to include or omit, in the chosen rubrics. For example in the section on food aggravations, milk has the 10 black type remdies from a rubric of 57; onions has Lyc. and puls., omitting nux-v. and thuj., presumably because they are in ordinary type. For bread he lists chin., nit-ac., Puls., sep. thus omitting Bry., and another 26 remdies. There is a Materia Medica of 60 remedies for further reference.
Many of his readers interested in doing all the work he recommends to find remedies would be much better off with our standard repertories and materia medicas and a good training course in home prescribing. The likelihood is great that people will continue to think allopathically, look up a specific ailment, and make a guess from the remdies listed, some of which have one or two constitutional indications listed in thoir description. They are usually recommended to take the 6c potency 3 or 4 times a day for up to 7 or 14 days. There will be some successes but, I fear, many disappointments, with the loss of confidence in homoeopathy that results.
Dr Lockie mentions the existence of 'Lay practitioners' and the Society of Homoeopaths with the wrong address, but the reader is encouraged in no uncertain terms to give us a wide berth, and find a practitioner qualified in orthodox medicine through the British Homoeopathic Association.
Paradoxically I know that I shall use this book, riot for the homoeopathy but for his lucid descriptions of pathology and for some of the self help measures he mentions.
The Homoeopath Vol.10 No.1 1990