Anthroposophic medicine
“It is not a matter of being in opposition to the school of medicine that is working with the accepted scientific methods of the present time. We fully acknowledge its principles. And in our view, the approach we present should only be used by those who are fully able and entitled to practise medicine according to those principles.
We do, however, add further insights to such knowledge of the human being as is now available through accepted scientific methods. These are gained by different methods, and we therefore feel compelled to work for an extension of clinical medicine, based on these wider insights into the nature of the world and the human being.”
Dr. Rudolf Steiner and Dr. Ita Wegman, Extending Practical Medicine (1925)
Anthroposophic medicinal products
Anthroposophic medicinal products consist largely of natural substances from the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms. These substances can be seen as being directly related through their common evolutional history, to the human processes of health, illness and healing. Each human process of illness is similar to typical processes in the kingdom of nature as can be recognized by gaining insight into the pathological processes in humans and finding the related processes in the kingdoms of nature. Therapeutic skill consists of bringing the two processes to interaction by means of medication.
The range of anthroposophic medicinal products is partially determined by the physical characters of substances, whereby allopathic, phytotherapeutical and homeopathic criteria are of course taken into consideration. Most particularly, the anthroposophic medicinal products are characterised by their manufacturing processes involving typical homeopathic and specific anthroposophic pharmaceutical procedures such as heating and rhythmic processes. The range of anthroposophic medicinal products includes potentised medicinal products, manufactured using the methods of the official homoeopathic pharmacopoeias, as well as concentrated herbal or mineral preparations and compound medicinal products.
More information on anthroposophic pharmacy can be found on the website of the International Association of Anthroposophic Pharmacists www.iaap.org.uk
The Anthroposophic Pharmaceutical Codex (APC) can be found here