What is constitutional prescribing?

What exactly is Constitutional prescribing? What is a constitutional remedy? Lets demystify this and let me explain my understanding of constitutional prescribing in Classical Homeopathy. I hope it may clarify some things for you.

Firstly you need to know that in Homeopathy there are different levels of prescribing such as

Acute prescribing; which focusses on simple every day acute conditions that are mostly self limiting- meaning they would usually resolve by themselves. Self prescribing in Acute situations can be safely be done by anyone. The remedy that is prescribed here, mainly focusses on what constitutes the situation at hand and now.

Chronic Prescribing; Here we deal with complex and longstanding issues or a combination of health complaints, or complaints that may have been suffered since birth. This is the field of the qualified professional homeopathic practitioners. Also the area of chronic complaints is where we most often hear of ‘constitutional prescribing’. The remedy prescribed here will be focussed on what constitutes your health situation now. But in addition we will look at it in context of; your (family) health history, as well as your life story and general situation, general preferences etc. Here is information about what happens in homeopathic process

Miasmatic prescribing is the level of homeopathic approach where the Chronic prescribing is put in an even bigger context. Here we look at dispositions that have come to you through your family history and health trends and circumstances in the past generations. The remedy prescribed here matches what constitutes the details of this layer, for you personally.

Constitutional Prescribing

There is a lot of confusion around the ‘constitutional remedy’, because it may look different at these different levels of prescribing.

“Constitution” is defined as the “composition or structure of something” or “makeup” in the dictionary.

Each person has their own constitution. This may be termed; “that which they consist of” or “who they are at the core”, “the person they are at at heart”, “their true inner being”.

Part of this constitution will be changeable over time. Life experiences, events, circumstance, growth and development naturally determine and influence us. All through our life; Layer upon layer of these impacts are heaped on the core person we were born to be. This burden may become overwhelming and cause imbalances and therefore un-wellness.

But underneath that some if this constitution will be static and inherently you; The part of you that does not change, these may be eg your genetic make up, familiar trends, your base personality.

In Classical homeopathic prescribing we prescribe what remedy fits a person best; at that moment (acute), in a wider sense taking in more of their history and looking at their whole situation (Chronic) or in relation to the dispositions and historic load passed on to them through the generations (Miasmatic).

“The Simillimum” remedy is what we call the perfect remedy match for this situation. “Simillimum” means “the similar” as in; we match a remedy made of the substance that can cause similar symptoms we are aiming to address. This is one of homeopathy’s main principles to ‘treat like with like’. Depending on the level of prescribing this will fit what constitutes the moment, their totality or their dispositions.

The Simillimum

In Chronic situations a constitutional approach means using a remedy or succession of remedies that help us to peel the layers of un-wellness like the layers in an onion. The more layers are peeled off; the closer we come to the core person. And when this core person is revealed to us; the simillimum remedy that fits this core constitutional we call “the” constitutional remedy. This remedy is one that matches the person on a very deep and complete level and it is often a remedy that stays with a person all their life. It may be the remedy that will help them; no matter what complaint they develop and at this level that constitutional remedy does not change.

The true constitutional remedy

It is possible sometimes to find that true constitutional remedy easily and early on in treatment; if we can clearly see the core person through his layers of un-wellness. Often it takes more time and work to be revealed. Today’s living is complex. We have so many exposures to negative impacts on health. When we start homeopathic treatment the layers we find can be many (e.g. stress, toxins, bad food quality, trauma, etc). Sometimes a remedy that matches is the simillimum for the moment or the layer we are working on. But it may also prove to be ‘the constitutional remedy’. This could become evident if there is a broad range of healing effects on many different levels in a case that may far overreach what we expected to see.

Of course the constitutional remedy is also a simillimum, but one on a more complete and lasting level.

So constitutional prescribing to me means working on revealing what constitutes a person at the core. Simillimum remedies are used to in order to achieve this. These help to peel the symptoms and layers away that have been build up and around this core and that prevent the person from being free to express their true potential and true self and prevents them from experiencing optimum health and wellbeing.

If this article has inspired you to consider starting your healing journey through constitutional homeopathic treatment feel free to book a Free 15 minute intro chat to inquire or a full consult below.