What is the difference between Heilkunst and Classical Homeopathy?

Although they both belong to the broader category of “natural healthcare”, they have very little in common when it comes to their modalities of practice or their underlying philosophies of curing and healing.

Every modality and its approach to healthcare begins with a particular “organizing idea”, or worldview which fundamentally informs every aspect of treatment — starting from how the patient is assessed, to the selection and application of appropriate treatment(s), and ultimately how the results are evaluated to have been successful, or not.

The organizing idea of Classical Homeopathy is built around the primary idea of the “symptom picture” (or “totality of symptoms”), and how it is to be treated with a carefully matched homeopathic remedy. The selection of the remedy is based on a very exact examination of how the patient’s symptoms are expressed in all of their unique characteristics and modalities. Success, in this model, is defined as the removal of the symptom picture, and the restoration of homeostasis (‘balance’) in the patient. This definition of treatment success (ie removal of symptoms) is shared by many other healthcare modalities, including conventional medicine.

While “symptom relief”, and homeostasis are not ignored in the practice of Heilkunst, they do not form its central organizing principle. Attaining health is not the mere shutting down of symptoms. Instead, the goal is to remove all blockages which stand in the way of the patient moving forward through their natural stages of development (physiological, mental, emotional, spiritual), so that they may be able to express their fully actualized potential. Specific health conditions are generally improved through this treatment process — we say that Heilkunst treatment has profound “side benefits” rather than “side effects”. This is a key difference between focussing on symptom removal versus removing the underlying cause.

In Heilkunst, a variety of dynamic therapeutic approaches are used, depending on the exact needs of the patient. This may include anything from an individualized approach to diet and lifestyle advice, to very specific natural medicine protocols (including homeopathics and other forms of energy medicine) to address underlying health conditions.

Also, in certain cases of chronic illness, a process of “sequential trauma removal” may be applied where there is a residual cellular memory of specific shocks or traumas preventing the patient from moving forward. This includes charting a history of the specific shocks and traumas of the patient, as well as the genetic predispositions to illness inherited from their family tree. Here, the concept of “detox” is taken to its logical conclusion, to include not only physical toxins, but also mental and emotional residues which have formed blockages in the patient’s healthy functioning.

In Classical Homeopathy, the selection of the remedy for the patient is individualized, whereas in Heilkunst, it is the patient’s entire treatment plan that is individualized. The old saying “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” comes to mind in this comparison, where the single modality approach of Classical Homeopathy is like the proverbial hammer, compared to the complete dynamic tool kit of Heilkunst Medicine.

Linguistically, ’homeopathy’, literally means “similar suffering” (from the Greek), and is a single therapeutic principle. Heilkunst, instead, approaches treatment in a comprehensive, systematic way, applying various modalities and therapeutics as they are needed by an individual patient. Practically speaking, the Classical Homeopathic approach reports about a 15% success rate in treating chronic illness, while Heilkunst sees a 90% success rate, or better.