THE CONCEPT

OF
RADIONICS
IN FACILITATING HEALING!!

(ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE PRACTICE)

2
 DR. MICHAEL KYEREMATENG. PhD (E-H)

C4C HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL

Editing & Cover design by RhemaTheos Publications

[email protected]

C2017 Dr. Michael Kyeremateng

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the
author.

Dr. Michael Kyeremateng

Tangstedter Landstraße 77
22415
Hamburg
Germany

Telephone: +31687832015

3
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5
DEDICATION 6
BACKGROUND 7

CHAPTER 1
10
1. WHAT IS RADIONICS?
2. HAVE RADIONIC INSTRUMENTS BEEN SCIENIFICALLY VALIDATED?
3. HOW DOES RADIONICS WORK?
4. WHAT KIND OF HEALTH DISORDERS DOES RADIONICS HANDLE?
5. WHAT TYPE OF DRUGS ARE USED IN RADIONIC ANALYSIS?
6. WHAT IS A RADIONIC ANALYSIS?
7. WHAT FORM DOES A RADIONIC ANALYSIS TAKE?

CHAPTER
2 23
1. WHAT IS ELECTRONIC HOMEOPATHY
2. HOW DOES ELECTRONIC HOMEOPATHY WORKS?
3. PREPARING ELECTRONIC HOMEOPATHY

CHAPTER
3 27
1. LOCATING ELECTRO-HOMEOPATHY WITHIN COMPLEMENTARY AND
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE. (CAM)
2. INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRO-HOMEOPATHIC PROFESSIONS
3. INTRODUCTION TO HOMEOPATHIC KNOWLEDGE
4. WHO CONSULTS HOMEOPATHS? PROBLEMS OF TERMINOLOGY
5. INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRO-HOMEOPATHY RESEARCH
6. REVIEWING EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE
7. REVIEWING EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

4
 8. EVIDENCE BASED RHETORIC

CHAPTER
4 41
1. PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMING
2. HOMEOPATHIC PHILOSOPHY
3. FEMINIST CRITIQUES
4. PRAGMATISM
5. HERMENEUTICS
6. POST MODERN PERSPECTIVES
7. DECONSTRUCTING MODERNISM
8. ANALYTICAL STRATEGIES
9. REFLECTIVE PAUSE BEFORE MOVING ON TOANALYTICAL STRATEGIES.

CHAPTER 5
49

1. METHODOLOGY
2. META METHODOLOGY: REFLEXITVITY
3. A RELFECTIVE FRAME WORK
4. BECOMING CRITICAL
5. TOWARDS REFLEXIVITY
6. REFLEXIVITY INFORMED BY CRITICAL SOCIAL SCIENCE
7. REFLEXIVITY INFORMED BY HAHERMENEUTICS
8. REFLEXIVITY INFORMED BY BOARDIEN
9. REFLEXIVITY INFORMED BY POST MODERN PERSPECTIVES
10. AUTO ETHNOGRAPHY
11. ACTION RESEARCH ORIENTATION
12. CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
13. WRITING AS INQUIRY
14. NARRATIVE ANALYSIS

BIBILIOGRAPHY 63

5
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This publication has taken more than 5 years to prepare and 3 months to write,
and many people encouraged me during the entire process. There were times
when it seemed like I would never get through it. However, with persistence and a
keen focus, it is finally complete. I want to acknowledge everyone who
participated for their help and support, without which this project would never
have been finished.
Nothing in life is ever successful without the corporate effort of many gifted
people who were willing to network and submit their talent, experience, and
passion for a common goal, I am always reminded that we are the sum total of all
the people we have known, met, and learned from. This work is the product of
countless individuals whose thoughts, ideas, perspectives, and work have given
me the exposure to the knowledge I have placed in this book.
I wish to thank my family for their patience and understanding during my endless
travels and late night writing. My achievements are yours also.
To the Ghana Health Service, The Ministry Of Health, Traditional and Alternative
Medicine Practice Council for the challenge and motivation given me as a growing
and upcoming alternative medical practitioner
To all members and staff of our Group Of Companies. Thank you for allowing
me to develop and refine these ideas and concepts by sharing and testing them
with you. Especially to Mikail Adeola my I.T Manager of the Group.

6
 DEDICATION
This Publication is dedicated to the persons or institutions below for their immense
contribution towards the health of all persons.

1. HON. NANA AGYEMAN MANU – MINISTER OF HEALTH. GHANA

2. DR. RAJ. MANCHANDER. DIRECTOR GENERAL, CCRH. MINIST RY
OF AYUSH- INDIA
3. GHANA HEALTH SERVICE
4. GHANA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
5. T RADIT IONAL AND ALT ERNAT IVE MEDICINE P RACT ICE COUNCIL-
GHANA
6. MR. JOSHUA KYEREMEH – FORMER BNI DIRECTOR-GHANA
7. BOARD OF DIRECTORS- C4C GROUP OF COMPANIES.

7
 BACKGROUND

R
adionics as a healing art had its origin in the research of an American
neurologist based in England Dr. Albert Abrams. He was born in San
Francisco in 1863 and was one of the first physicians in achieving high
ratings in his time. He graduated from the University of California, wrote
several medical textbooks and eventually won the highest recognition and
reputation worldwide as the best specialist in diseases of the nervous system.

In the course of his research, Dr. Abrams made the most amazing and
extraordinary discovery of our time, this was that, diseases could be measured in
terms of energy or electromagnetic frequencies. These zones or frequencies can
be amplified, from a small bio-generator, non-electric but composed of fixed
resistors and variables with which you can syntonize various energy deficits of
energetic and subtle order in people, through codes or “RATES.”

These codes have a certain value in Ohms or Hertz assigned for each disease for
each remedy, for each plant, flower, stone, mineral, energy vortex or chakra.
It is under this principle that he devised the instrument that he used and calibrated
with numerical markers that allowed him to identify the reactions and intensities of
a disease to a perfect fit. From this work and extraordinary discovery called
E.R.A, the Electronic Reaction of Abrams was established, and from this, the so
called Radionics as we know it today was born. English medical chief, James Barr
considered Abrams’ discoveries as the most important and significant for the
science of his time.

However, certain orthodox doctors and pseudo-scientists of his time attacked and
tried to discredit him seeking his expulsion from the British Royal Society of
Medicine because his principles threatened their greatest interests. In the year of
the death of Abrams in 1924, the committee of the Royal Society of Medicine
under the chairmanship of (Lord) Sir Thomas investigated Abram’s studies and
their demands. To the amazement of the stale lazy orthodox medical science, the
committee, after extensive testing, had to admit that the proposals and findings
made by Adams were valid and were approved.

During the 30s in the United States; chiropractor, Dr. Ruth Drown, added another
stage to Radionics which proved what Dr. Abrams had exposed and theorized,
that diagnosis and treatment could be done remotely.
The instruments and techniques were refined over time and extensive work was
done in the field of radiomic photography, also initiated by Dr. Drown in
California. The 60s saw totally new concepts emerge in the investigation of

8
Malcolm Raes in Radionic instrumentation and homeopathic simulation of
potency. The introduction of another chiropractor Dr. David Tansley, who
provided a new basis for the diagnosis and radionic treatment, based on subtle
anatomy (energy fields) of the living, which subsequently revolutionized the
theory and practice of Radionics throughout the world. In present day, Radionics
has taken new dimensions of effectiveness and instrumental technology.

Remedy Making instruments have been available for the past 45 years, starting
with the first commercial model produced by Malcolm Rae (an engineer and
Radionic Practitioner) in the seventies . Such instruments have been used by
thousands of Homeopaths all over the world.
The principle underlying Remedy Making is based on the understanding that all
physical substances have a unique energy pattern. This also applies to
Homeopathic Remedies produced pharmaceutically by trituration and succussion.
(Avagadro’s Law states that beyond a 6C dilution there isn’t a molecule of the
original substance left).
The energy patterns are represented by a unique set of numbers or ‘rate’. When
using a Remedy Maker this rate is keyed into the instrument which then embeds
the corresponding energy pattern into the carrier. (e.g. sac lac, water).
‘Rates’ have also been developed for the common flower essences, physical
anatomy, colours, elements, gems, vitamins and minerals and some allopathic
medicines.

By using digital technology in the embedding process the Radionic Instruments

ensure that the carrier will contain only the pure energy pattern and none of the
background ‘white noise’ present with analogue technology. A good analogy is the
difference between analogue (older T V technology) and digital T V's. The picture
is considerably clearer!

Radionic Instruments are the result of combining earlier radionic technologies with
modern digital technologies. The energetic remedy patterns which simulate a
homeopathic remedy are embedded in the carrier using electronic components. A
computer chip controls the input which is directed to carrier through special
electronic circuitary. The integrity of the instrument is maintained by regular use
of the 'Clear' switch which allows users both to clear any stray energetic energy in
the carrier, or within the instrument. Under normal use a radionics Remedy Maker
should not need servicing.

9
Early Radionic instruments were made to use number ‘rates’ for the unique
vibration of a substance which became known as Base 10. Base 10 refers to the
numbering system. Taking a rate like 475, the 4 is in the first position, the 7 is in
the second position and the 5 is in the third position. (The ‘rates’ are not
numerical values where any one number position is any more important than any
other, simply a numerical representation of a unique vibration). Later a scale was
introduced which included the numbers 1-44 as whole numbers, so a rate could
contain any two digit number up to 44 in any one position. These are known as
Base 44. The Radionic instruments, being digital, use the Base 10 rates.

CHAPTER 1
WHAT IS RADIONICS?

M
any people have never before heard of the word ‘radionics’. They
think it has something to do with radio or physics. Many have written
to ask what radionics healing is all about. The Radionic Association in
Oxford, England, have this definition, we quote, verbatim, what they
had to say.

10
"It is a method of healing at a distance through the medium of an instrument using
the ESP faculty. In this way, a trained and competent practitioner can discover the
cause of disease within any living system, be it a human being, an animal, a plant
or the soil itself. Suitable therapeutic energies can then be made available to the
patient to help restore optimum health. Radionics was was originated by a
distinguished American physician , Doctor Albert Abrams (1863 - 1924) of San
Francisco, and it has been developed by numerous other research workers and
exponents including Ruth Drown, George de la Warr, T. Galen Hieronymus,
Malcolm Rae and David Tansley. Basic to radionic theory and practice is the
concept that man and all other life forms share a common ground in that they are
submerged in the electro-magnetic energy field of the earth; and further, that each

11
life form has its own electromagnetic field which, if sufficiently distorted, will
automatically in disease of the organism. Accepting that "all is energy", Radionics
sees organs, diseases and remedies as having their own particular frequency or
vibration.

These factors can be expressed in numerical values which are known in Radionics
as "rates", and radionic instruments are provided with calibrated dials on which
such "rates" are set for analysis and treatment purposes. The radionic practitioner,
in making his analysis, uses the principle of dowsing by applying his faculty of
extra sensory perception to the problem of detecting disease in much the same
way that the dowser detects the location of water, oil or mineral deposits. The
particular form of ESP used in Radionics is often referred to as "the radiesthetic
faculty" through which the practitioner, by means of a series of mentally posed
questions, obtains information about the health of his patients to which the
conscious thinking mind has no direct access."

12
Radionics is a method of healing, usually without physical contact with the patient,
with the help of specialized instruments, in conjunction with a special faculty of
extra-sensory perception (ESP) known as the radiesthetic faculty. Healing, in this
sense, does not necessarily confine itself to humans, but extends to non-humans
as well.

The name 'radionics' is somewhat misleading since this form of healing has
nothing to do with radio or radio waves, neither does it have anything to do
with electronics. As a matter of fact, radionics can be said to be 'healing
with thought energy

A radionic practitioner can work on humans, animals, plants, the soil, buildings,
and the environment.

A radionic practitioner facilitates healing. He

doesn't heal. He doesn't diagnose. He doesn't treat
either. His role is confined to that of a facilitator. It
is the all creative principle in the universe that does
the healing. Simply put, it is the YOU, in YOU,
that does the healing. This also applies to other
modalities of health care, be it conventional or
otherwise.

Now, this takes us a little bit out of the question, so let's get back to it. Permeating
every created substance (or essence) in the universe is 'energy'. Physical science
does not tell us what energy is. It merely tells us that "energy is the capacity to do
work". What that 'capacity' is, it is incapable of saying! Our attempted definition
of 'energy' is 'that creative essence in all things that allows all things to be'. This
we hold as our working definition. The radionic practitioner is a manipulator of
this energy to bring about harmony in his target (the patient) where there has been
a disruption or imbalance in its flow.

A. Have Radionic Instruments Been Scientifically Validated?

This depends on what we mean by 'scientific validation'. If what we mean is
whether radionic instruments have been tested and found to obey the laws of
physics or that of material science, our answer is 'No'. The framework of material
science and that of radionics are different, so it is difficult to use one to evaluate
or validate the other.

13
Radionic instruments are physical structures no doubt, but what they are used to
accomplish cannot be tied to their engineering designs.

All radionic practitioners know that their instruments serve only as

extensions of their diagnostic (not in the orthodox sense) and healing
faculties. On their own, the instruments do absolutely nothing. Now, this
bring up the question: why do some practitioners shell out a lot of money
for very expensive instruments, some with outrageous claims that boggle the
mind? This is where choice comes in. It might well be that such
practitioners build thoughtforms of greater efficacy around such instruments
and they might well have better results due to this.

But there are practitioners do not believe that the cost or the complexity of
the instruments have anything to do with the therapeutic results obtained
since radionics works on the realm of thought.

Radionics was originally One of Abrams’ fundamental

developed in San Francisco propositions is that everything which
by Dr Albert Abrams (1863 exists has a unique vibrational
- 1924) and has advanced signature. These signatures are
over the years as a result of represented in Radionics by a system
the dedicated efforts of of codes, each of which is known as
many practitioners and a a Rate. The Rates are used as the
number of outstanding focal point for both testing and
personalities, including Dr treatment and cover a vast range,
Ruth Drown (USA), and including, for example, the entire
David Tansley and human anatomy and physiology;
Malcolm Rae (UK). The pathogens such as bacteria, viruses,
UK is the main centre for fungi and parasites; many forms of
Radionic practice in the poisons and toxins; and many
world today. diseases.

B. How Does Radionics Work?

Previously the answer to this question was "we don't know", and we left it at that.
Today researchers in energy medicine, and other sciences are beginning to
investigate the 'hows' of radionics and are coming out with pretty good
information and observations. But this information is not from the so called
double-blind and rigidly controlled studies that have ever been the bedrock of
conventional western sciences despite their divergence from the way normal life is
lived.

14
Please note, this is not an attack on western scientific methodology. It's just that
its thinking is confined to the third dimension. There are other dimensions of
reality unbeknown to conventional science(see quantum physics).
You cannot use a three dimensional parameters to investigate a four dimensional
reality. Radionics happens to fall into this category. It is beyond what conventional
science can grasp as of now.
No wonder, western conventional scientists have tended to confine it to the
domain of quackery or mysticism. Of course, this excuses them from further
investigation but does not necessarily absolve them from the responsibility of
carrying out relevant researches before discrediting it. This, we must say, is very
sad for orthodox science since a lot could be uncovered and learnt if we only
developed and used our extra sensory perceptive (ESP) faculties.

Radionics normally uses energy patterns to correct the imbalances found by the
practitioner. These patterns include, for example, Homoeopathic remedies,
Flower remedies, Gem Essences, Colours, Antidote patterns for bacteria and
viruses, and numerous other factors. Thus the practitioner can draw on a large
number of possible solutions for the patient and his or her skill lies in finding not
only the source of the patient’s problems but also the most appropriate remedy.
The practitioner may also dowse for the suitability to the patient of non-Radionic
therapies, and most practitioners will also work alongside orthodox medical
procedures if required. Radionic techniques are also used successfully in the
treatment of animals, and in agriculture.
During the 40s and 50s radionics began to develop and with homeopathy they
started to have a reciprocal influence upon each other. Many figures who were
active in one therapy were also active in both during the 50s and 60s and were
thus important in both fields.
They also shared the same dilemmas and difficulties and problems of being in a
lay status and having the marginalisation and denigration from the medical
majority allopaths. They also shared the same problems about tuition and passing
on their skills to others of their kind

Now, the question was 'how does radionics work?' Although we have been
involved in radionics for well over 20 years now, we can not honestly give an
answer that will satisfy the ordinary mind. It is more like asking, 'how does prayer
work?'.
This reminds me of a saying by one of my computer teachers who used to say
"You don't need to know how the computer works but you need to know how to
work the computer". Radionics works, and those who have experienced it know
this. Probably, we don't have to know how it works but we need to know how to
make it work.

C. What Kind of Health Disorders Does Radionics Handle?

Let us begin by correcting one misconception here. A radionic practitioner doesn't
treat any health condition. To treat, you must diagnose. And to diagnose means,
giving a label that meets certain rigid parameters based on what can be measured

15
or quantified in the physical laboratory.

Radionics practitioners work on the premises that all diseases and health disorders,
irrespective of what names or labels are attached to them, boil down to one
thing.... energy imbalances. The names or the diagnoses we give to them only
reflect the locations and the effects of these energy imbalances on the overall body
system.
If we could detect and correct these energy imbalances, wellness will be restored
to the sufferer. This will happen no matter what names were given to the
manifested clinical signs and symptoms in the first case. Radionics seeks to do just
this...restore balance.... and it does it marvelously.

Radionics can handle all manifestations of energy imbalances that externalize as

named diseases. It can penetrate into levels and dimensions of reality yet
inaccessible to conventional medicine. Because of this it can do a better job of
effecting a return to health in most seemingly intractable cases.
Almost all diseases and illnesses treatable by western conventional medicine could
be helped by radionic therapy. It is not a cure-all kind of discipline though, and it
is, sometimes, very restricted in physical interventionist care. In many instances
radionic healing and conventional medicine can co-exist to the betterment of the
patient

16
 In English clinics, Radionic practitioners work closely with medical doctors, and freely
discuss their results with the doctors and nurses, which reflects directly on the well being
of the patients. In Germany and America, where the pharmaceutical companies have
reached the pinnacle of respect and power, most doctors and professors do not even know
how to spell the word Radionics, much less know the principles and procedures.
If one happens to hear the word, what usually goes along with it is, “It’s humbug, doesn’t
work, and it is certainly not scientific.” But Radionics in Germany and other countries is
finding more and more people interested, especially among independent thinking doctors
and healing practitioners. Increasingly, more patients are discovering this holistic method as
an alternative, or adjunct, to traditional treatment.
Even though Radionics had shown much success in the early part of the century, and in
England has been used for decades as an alternative to orthodox medicine, it is still leading
a quiet life in the shadows in most areas of the world. The potential of this method is quite
potent, since it is a very useful tool for analysis, and balancing, and is much more
encompassing than many methods of diagnosis and treatment. This truly goes far beyond
school medicine and does not follow the Newtonian world view.
Radionics can be seen as a science that is walking the holistic path

D. What Type of Drugs Are Used In Radionic Healing?

Radionic practitioners do not use drugs in the sense it is done in conventional
medicine. Being natural healers, they work with energy in the form of potentized
remedies that carry etheric imprints of the therapeutic substance. These remedies
are not chemicals or pharmaceuticals. Because of this they do not have the toxic
effects seen in conventional medicine. Rremedies used in radionic practice include
homeopathic medicine, flower essences, gem elixirs, color essences, planetary
remedies, vitamins and minerals, and tissue salts. Potentized conventional
remedies may also be used.
The remedies, being potentized energy patterns, do not exert their effects
according to the quantity taken but rather according to the frequency of
administration. Thus one drop is as effective as one gallon, provided they are
taken at the same time.

17
 Ruth Drown was born in 1892 in Greeley, Colorado. Her
father was a professional photographer and taught young Ruth
all he knew of the photographic processes. Years later, this
background would play an important role in her development
of Radio Vision, an invention of such inestimable importance
and merit to the healing arts that it should have carried her to
the stage in Stockholm. Instead, her work, her inventions, her
honor and finally her life, were all shattered by a calculated
onslaught organized by the Little Men of Big Medicine using
their media pimps and government stooges to destroy her.
These jackals of greed and duplicity always seem to reserve
their greatest torments for those who would relieve man's
suffering the most, as was seen in the case of Dr. Royal
Raymond Rife whose great discoveries in cancer research and
therapy were obliterated by the same medical mafia (see The
Cancer Cure That Worked! by Barry Lynes). Dr. Drown’s
persecution was remarkable in both the continuing torment of
her detractors and her tenacity to preserve in the face of such
unrelenting and withering ridicule endured over many, many
years. Quoting from page 233 in Trevor's book:
"During her lifetime, Dr. Ruth Drown was one of the most
widely misrepresented and vilified women in America. The
poisonous rubbish circulated about her in magazines and
newspapers was never written by anyone who knew her.
Alleged technical descriptions of the Drown work, invariably
condemnatory and always inaccurate, were printed in national
magazines and published in books by writers who had never
even met Dr. Drown, let alone had studied her work. The
pillorying went on for decades.”

E. What Is A Radionic Analysis?

A radionic analysis is the process by which a practitioner finds out all the factors
that are involved in the manifestations of the illness and disease the patient
presents with.
A radionic analysis is NOT like making a medical diagnosis. In a medical
diagnosis, the aim is to try and find out a name for the particular symptoms-signs
complex the patient is having. Only then is treatment given according to the name
of the condition.

Distance: Effectiveness is independent of the distance between

practitioner and patient. Distance is not a limitation. The patient can be

18
 with the practitioner, can be connected to a machine, or can be many
miles away.

In a radionic analysis the aim is not to categorize a condition by way of a

diagnostic term but to find out ALL the factors that have contributed to the clinical
presentations of the patient. Such factors could reside in the body physical, the
etheric body, the emotional body, or the mental body. They could even have their
domain outside of these.
Some factors that could predispose a person to an illness include the environment;
negative energy fields coming from the earth (e.g. geopathic stress); adverse
planetary factors (e.g. transits and bad astrological aspects), etc., etc. These are in
addition to other common factors well known to us.
Often times, factors that neither the patient nor the practitoner suspected might
show up during an analysis as the underlying cause of an illness. The aim of the
radionic practitioner is to isolate these factors, prioritize them, and then embark on
their correction or "balancing the patient" as we popularly refer to this procedure.
Priority correction or harmonization is the key to a successful radionic healing.

Etheric Life Energy

Wilhelm Reich would more accurately identify this esoteric form of radiation as
a constituent manifestation of the ether, which he labeled orgone energy. Still
later, author Gerry Vasillatos would refer to this radiation as a component of Vril
energy, which he describes handsomely in his published volumes known as The
Vril Compendium (Borderland books). Despite the different names given to the
life force energy, it's important to bear in mind that the bioenergetic ‘signals’ that
Lakhovsky and Abrams were describing were not really electromagnetic waves
at all, as they had assumed at the time, but were rather a much finer and
infinitely more powerful radiation of the ether which was elaborated upon by
Rudolf Steiner, Guenther Wachsmuth, Ernst Lehrs, and more recently by author
Ernst Marti (The Four Ethers 1984) as being composed of four sub categories
known as the Warmth ether, the Light ether, the Chemical ether (also called the
Sound or Number ether), and the Life ether. It should also be clarified that
electromagnetic waves are “carried” by the ether, a notion foreign to
conventional physicists, yet true, since there would be nothing for the wave to
“wave in” when traversing the vacuum of space.

F. What form does a radionic analysis take?

A radionic analysis may take different forms depending on the school of thought
the practitioner trained or belongs.
In early form of radionics, the medical model was used. Here, the patient's illness

19
was identified in medical terms and the radionic analysis was geared towards
discovering what could be done by way of 'treatment'. Many practitioners are still
following this old school method. It is not unusual to hear such practitioners still
refering to their treating this condition or that condition.
In the early 70s, a new concept was introduced into radionics by David Tansley,
D.C. That concept took into account man's subtle anatomy. The etheric, astral (or
emotional), the mental, and causal bodies came to be incorporated into radionic
analysis by some practitioners. Analysis of the chakras also was added. No doubt,
this considerably extended the scope and efficacy of radionics.

Dr. Tansley did not end there. In the 80s he took further steps and introduced the
concept of Ray Energies into radionic practice. This concept, though difficult to
grasp by some practitioners, further elevated radionic healing into the pinnacle of a
truly holistic healing art. This was so because, for the first time in radionic
practice, man's link with the cosmos and the primordial creative force could be
intelligently applied. The subject of Ray Energies is vast and we shall devote
another time to its exploration.
Basic Principles of Radionics (copied from "Vibrational Medicine for the 21st
Century", page 333, by Dr. Richard Gerber:
Radionic Treatment: One of the great advantages of Radionics is that it is often
possible to discover potentially serious health, family and financial conditions at an
early stage before manifesting in the Physical Plane and, by appropriate treatment,
prevent them for developing to a point where they become clinically identifiable.

Each disease is associated with a specific energy with unique frequency

20
 characteristics.

Disease energies are radiated from a patient's body, a specimen of diseased biopsy
tissue, and even from the blood.

Human beings react to this disease frequency, especially when they are oriented to
geomagnetic West
.
When facing geomagnetic West, human beings will react to disease frequencies in the
body by producing a unique abdominal reflex- a temporary change in the abdominal
muscle detectable by percussion.

Healthy humans (facing West) will produce the characteristic abdominal reflex if they
are close to or electrically wired to disease specimens or patient blood spots from sick
individuals.

Disease-specimen energy frequencies are easily conducted along metallic wires

(passive conduction).

Variable resistance devices (radionic instruments) act as specialised tunable electronic

filters that only allow one disease frequency to be conducted through the device
circuitry at a time, depending upon the variable tuning setting.

The radionics operator becomes psychically linked to the patient at a distance via the
blood spot.

Results: There are no published results of well controlled scientifically conducted

studies. According to Dr Gerber, there have been case reports of patients with
inoperable brain tumours going into remission after being treated with radionic
broadcast therapy (p 368). Drs Tansley and McFarland claimed to have successfully
treated many patients with advanced cancer.

Some practitioners incorporate concepts derived from Oriental Medicine (such as

acupuncture meridian energies), Tibetan Medicine and Psychiatry, and
Cosmobiology, into radionics. This has not only led to increased efficiency and
made therapies more potent, but has further demonstrated that radionics is a a
very highly effective healing tool whose only limitation is the limitation of the
human mind.

21
 CHAPTER 2

WHAT IS ELECTRONIC HOMEOPATHY?

D
ue to the problems of selection of remedies, production and preparation
of conventional Homeopathy, Dr. Ruth Drown had the idea to apply and
practice the principles of radionics to homeopathy.
The basic problems of classical homeopathy were:

1. Lack of success in the cases where the administrating doctor finds the
similimum but the patient does not respond to the remedy.
2. Failure on finding the right direct potency in urgent cases.
3. Very extensive methods used by homeopaths to find the similimum and still
not being able to guarantee the patient that he/she will receive the correct
and effective remedy.
4. The difficulty of obtaining the same remedy with the same potency with
absolute certainty and potentiality, and safety that the patient will be treated
in the same manner.

Thus, in traditional homeopathy, it takes a lot of time to determine the appropriate

remedy and often times the patient makes it even more difficult because they
cannot clearly explain their symptoms. Very often it is difficult to get the remedy
and might have to wait several days to get it. It may also be that the correct

22
potency is not available; this is especially common when it comes to high
potencies.
Because of all this, there was a search for a method that could:

1. Test a remedy (using the Materia Medica)

2. Produce the homeopathic remedy with its specific and delimited content.

The first tests that Ruth Drown did were successful and with this began the
“electronic homeopathy” or “new homeopathy.” Now the therapist has the
opportunity to try a similar or appropriate remedy (simile or similimum) and
imprint the information contained in this remedy to a carrier substance
(production).
After several years in the development of instruments of radionic analysis, it is
demonstrated that the introduction of electronic methods for the production of
homeopathic remedies allows finding remedies in the least amount of time
possible, which has saved a lot of time and attention to the therapists so they can
now serve a larger number of patients and with better quality. Even in the most
difficult cases, it is possible to find the right remedy quickly, instead of having to
spend many hours doing comparative studies. Thus, prescribing homeopathic
remedies is now cheaper and can be made in greater precision in less time.
Basically, all homeopathically prepared substances can be manufactured very
successfully using Radionics.

All the advantages of classical homeopathy are held in electronic homeopathy. In

addition, electronic homeopathy expands the class of what we cannot measure,
which are those homeopathic remedies that are not based on any material. Thus
completely new areas are opened to therapists, so that they can carry out their
own research.
It is widely known by homeopaths around the world that an instrument of analysis
was recognized for being the only way to find an exact similimum in the shortest
possible time and thus achieve better results.

You Radionics instrument offer the possibility to test the correct remedy that has
been found, with the reference of the patient and to determine the optimum
potency. If the remedy is found using classical repertoires, the remedy that has
been found can be tested and produced in seconds. Thus the work of classical
homeopathy gives a significant and complete support.

23
 How Electronic Homeopathy Works
Electronic homeopathy provides a broad range of source material for the
production of homeopathic remedies. In this way, completely new types of
medicines, for which there are no remedy image, can be produced.
Each homeopathic remedy primarily consists of electromagnetic fields of energy
and secondary, from a field of varying potentiality.
These two types of energy can be transferred without being disturbed, to neutral
substances such as lactose powder, globuli, distilled water or the like, or may be
altered or simulated. These events of energy apply to any known remedy.
Once the electromagnetic energy field of remedy is known it can be used at any
time. This is obtained either from the original remedy, which is placed on the
receptor of the instrument or is simulated by a frequency. The newest
development (ECS technology) also offers the possibility of storing an energy field
in a memory card.

Preparing Electronic Homeopathy

To prepare medicines with a Radionics instrument, basically what you have to do
is copy from a medium with information (source) to an inert medium (carrier
substance).
In the area of origin or source of the instrument you can place:
1. A medication (allopathic or homeopathic, for example), a medicinal plant,
vitamins, chemicals, Bach flowers, Schussler salts, essences, etc. or
2. Electromagnetic Cards
In the destination area of the instrument we place an inert medium (carrier
substance) that is not loaded with energy, such as a vehicle prepared with water
and alcohol (mixture of distilled water and cane alcohol) or inert globules which
are normally used in Classical Homeopathy (homeopathic globules).
After waiting a few seconds, the instrument copies the energy from the origin to
the destination, making the destination a medicine that works the same (and
often better) than homeopathic medicine.

It is necessary to indicate in the instrument the potency of the medication, to equal

the homeopathic potency. This allows you to customize the medication to the

24
potency each patient needs. Thus, in a simple, accessible and fast way, we have a
new medication.
With this instrument, you can now produce several hundred homeopathic
remedies in the desired potency. Not only from the field of Classical Homeopathy.
Even allopathic medicines can be converted into homeopathic remedies using this
procedure.

CHAPTER 3.

LOCATING ELECTRO-HOMEOPATHY WITHIN

COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE
25
 MEDICINE (CAM)

AM draws on a range of European and South East Asian healing practices

C to form a synthesis of reinvented healing traditions. Adoption of the terms

complementary therapies or CAM is an attempt to organize a disparate set
of practices under one umbrella, self-defining as a form of healthcare and
well-being practices. The collective terms obfuscate the diversity of therapeutic
practices and diagnostic taxonomies. Some are identified as therapies and others,
like homeopathy or electro-homeopathy, are presented as systems of medicine.
The diverse field is united by perceiving the potential to enhance self-healing.
Homeopathy and electro-homeopathy shares with many modalities a non-
Cartesian view of health in recognizing interdependence of body, mind, emotions
and spirit. Like all cultural phenomena, people engage in CAM in diverse ways.
For some, herbal preparations purchased off the shelf are substitutes for
conventional analgesia; whilst others use meditation as a form of spiritual practice.

CAM as a set of therapeutic practices can be described as a paradigm, in so far as

there are shared values, underlying models of health and therapeutic trajectories
that distinctly differ from those of biomedicine. Implicit in descriptions of CAM
practices are assumptions about naturalness and safety. These descriptions are
juxtaposed with a harsher characterization of the biomedical model as outcome
orientated in eliminating, attacking and combating pathological change. This
polarization between alternative and orthodox is problematic, as what is regarded
as alternative in one setting or at one time, could be regarded as orthodox in
another setting or at another time (Saks, 2003).

Western logic is structured around tensions between pairs, privileging one over
another. CAM and orthodox medicine are relative terms, constantly changing and
culturally specific.

The term ‘complementary’ is more politically acceptable than ‘alternative’, as it

implies submissiveness to biomedicine, but both terms perpetuate the ‘otherness’
and political marginality (Saks, 2011). Relations with biomedicine are not easy and
Cant and Sharma (1998) observe that “CM practitioners have tended to see
themselves as beleaguered groups, threatened by the antagonistic power of
orthodox medicine”.

Recent debates conducted in national newspapers have challenged individual’s

autonomy to exercise treatment choice and academic freedom in universities to
teach CAM (Giles, 2007). Critiques of CAM practices (Coward, 1989) suggest
that these practices privilege meaning making over physiological effects,

26
perpetuate myths of what is natural and traditional, and function as indulgences
made possible by a high standard of living. Other more personal critiques
(Diamond, 2001) make allegations that false hope is offered to those suffering
terminal illness.

Introduction to the electro-homeopathy professions

Homeopaths are divided into two groups - those qualified as medical doctors and
those with a professional qualification (Medical professional homeopath and
registered).
There are a number of registers of professional homeopaths depending on the
countries and location of the practitioner. We have qualified either from privately
run diploma courses or more recently undergraduate degree programmes. We
were taught medical sciences by doctors or other health professionals. We practice
independently and our role in publicly funded provision is limited to a number of
NHS and social care projects, such as Sure Start, research studies in outpatient
departments and charitable organizations.

Medically qualified doctors practice both within the NHS and privately. Any
doctor may prescribe homoeopathic remedies without training but may voluntarily
choose to undertake a three year postgraduate programme leading on to
certification from the General Medical Council and registration with the Accredited
Electro-Homeopathy Institution.

For the purposes of consistent terminology, where distinctions are needed I refer
to ‘medical homeopaths’ and ‘professional homeopaths’. Where distinctions are
not relevant, the term ‘homeopath’ is used to refer to both. Professional
homeopaths right to practice under Common Law. Statutory regulation relates to
the medical practitioner and not their homeopathic practice. Currently electro-
homeopathy or homeopathy is an unregulated profession, without restrictions on
practising or calling yourself a homeopath. The only constraints on practice are in
respect of duty of care, treating diseases and the use of the title of Registered
Medical Practitioner.

Homeopathic remedies are available for sale over the counter. In 1994 the
Medical Control Agency introduced a licensing scheme for safety and quality of
homeopathic remedies. The current review of UK medicines legislation by the
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency may have implications for
the availability and labeling of remedies.

27
Medical homeopaths negotiate their identity across two divergent paradigms. This
is clearly visible in their journal, for example, in the commitment to ‘modernise’
homeopathic terminology. Medical homeopaths “have to struggle to retain the
credibility of their specialism within medicine, in the face of considerable hostility
from some other doctors”. (Cant and Sharma, 1996)

Most published research is generated by medical homeopaths, and this may

account for why some professional homeopaths are ambivalent about a perceived
lack of convergence between medicines killed more than it cured (Wootton,
2006). Saks argues that with the medical profession’s greater unity and advances
in treatments, CAM practices were increasingly marginalized by the mid-20th
century. By the late 1960s an emerging counter culture expressed disillusionment
with the orthodoxy of medicine and a desire for greater self-determination in
healthcare. According to Winston (1999, p.412), by 1998 professional
homeopaths outnumbered medical homeopaths.

The context for this activity was greater receptivity of the Government to the
professionalization of CAM and lobbying for publically funding CAM treatments,
most notably by HRH Prince of Wales. Sharma and Cant (1996) observed
competition between homeopathic organizations to act as the ‘official’
representative. The House of Lords report of the Select Committee on Science
and Technology on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2000)
recommended a single professional register for homeopaths, but on a risk based
assessment did not recommend statutory regulation at this stage. In response to
this recommendation nine organizations formed the Council for Organizations
Registering Homeopaths (1999-2007) working collaboratively towards agreeing a
self-regulatory process for professional homeopaths.

The new millennium witnessed a gradual retrenchment of the profession. The

numbers of students declined leading eventually to college closures. One of the
most significant factors in closure of all university based undergraduate courses
was the increase in fees for graduates studying again at undergraduate level which
adversely affected mature students wishing to enter homeopathic practice.

Introduction to homeopathic knowledge

Homeopathic practice is founded on empirical observation and experimentation,

28
and has its own established research traditions. It was initiated in the context of
European Enlightenment view that knowledge comes from observation guided by
reason. Provings represent an empirical and experimental innovation that
distinguishes homeopaths from contemporary medical practices. Homeopathic
treatment is popular across the world, in particular Germany, France, Italy and
India. This thesis is culturally specific to professional homeopaths in the Ghana.
Whilst electro-homeopathy is a discrete modality, practices and discourses are
influenced by the historical, political and cultural context.

“Conclusions drawn from research on one aspect of electro-homeopathy

(e.g., homeopathic medicines) are often applied to another meaning of the term
(e.g., the therapeutic system of homeopathy). This confounding of meaning is
most obvious in systematic reviews of ‘electro-homeopathy’, and reviews of
systematic reviews of ‘homeopathic’.” (Relton et al., 2008, p.153)

Homeopathic knowledge is divided into three areas of study: philosophy

(understanding health, illness and recovery), materia medica (knowledge of
therapeutic agents) and practice (application). Electro-Homeopathy has its own
theories of pathology which its discourse has incorporated changing biomedical
ways of knowing but culturally has largely been self -generating and retained its
own distinctive identity. Biomedical understanding of pathology and differential
diagnosis is perceived to be an essential part of professional knowledge.
Homeopaths are either previously medically trained or are taught by medical
doctors either from a biomedical viewpoint or biomedical knowledge integrated
into a more homeopathic approach (Ball, 1987).

Theory plays a dominant role in professional knowledge and this continues to be

informed by two key philosophical texts (Hahnemann, 1987, 1st published 1921,
1988, 1st publication 1828). For this reason, the thesis is organized around the
homeopathic principles. Each principle is a discrete procedure in its own right, but
only gains therapeutic meaning in the context of the whole philosophical
framework. A brief résumé is set out below for readers unfamiliar with the
philosophy. Epistemology and ontology are considered in the Philosophical
Framing.

Vital force: This encapsulates a view of health and illness founded on the
observation that life cannot be adequately explained by mechanism alone,
but characterized by an internal self-regulating, subtle capability. This is
shared with a range of therapeutic approaches across the world, each using
its own individual approach to harness the potential to self-recovery.

29
 Symptoms are regarded as indications rather than the cause of disturbance
of health.

Similimum: The therapeutic system is based on the observation that there

is a relationship of similitude to what a substance can cause and its sphere
of therapeutic effect. Treating with similars is considered to have been first
articulated by Hippocrates and used throughout history, but Hahnemann is
regard as responsible for empirically testing (first reported 1796) this and
proposing the ‘law of similars’ as a generalizable therapeutic phenomenon.

Single remedy: Prescribing one remedy at a time, by selecting the remedy

that most closely matches the symptoms of the patient.

Potentisation: The process by which a remedy is prepared using serial

dilution and succession. Commencing with one drop of the original source,
for example juice from macerated root of a plant in an alcohol solution
(mother tincture), added to 99 parts of a water alcohol mix. The dilution is
then shaken. The therapeutic system is based on the notion that this
procedure prepares the substance to be reactive to the patient’s vitality. The
potentised remedy is also known as the minimum dose, the least necessary
to stimulate a healing response.

Susceptibility: We have to be susceptible, before we can become ill. Using

the example of susceptibility to influenza, why do some individuals not
develop symptoms even though they have been exposed to other people
who were infectious? The state prior to the manifestation of symptoms is
considered to be the site of intervention in treatment. Susceptibility to
illness and recovery is perceived to be integral to the individual’s
constitution.

Provings: The symptoms that a substance can produce must be ascertained

precisely to be able to use this substance therapeutically. Innovatory
systematic protocols for testing highly diluted substances were first devised
by Hahnemann and since 1834 have incorporated the use of placebo
controls (Dean, 2001). Designs are developing in line with methodological
and ethical standards of clinical trials.

Heredity (known as miasmatic theory): This is a theory of causation and

treatment of long term illnesses. Inherited and acquired tendencies influence
an individual’s’ susceptibility to different illnesses. Pathological tendencies

30
are categorised into processes of under function, over function and destruction.
Direction of cure: Criteria are used to interpret changes, including improvement of
recent symptoms and well-being and possible temporary return of previous
symptoms The term ‘unravelling’ or ‘unfolding’ is often used to convey an
understanding of improving levels of health expressed through shifting patterns of
symptoms.

Who consults homeopaths? Problems of terminology

Based on the idea of the usage of homoeopathic remedies in the UK and A survey
(Thomas and Coleman, 2004) indicated that in a 12 months period it was
estimated that 2% of the population consulted a homeopath, and the annual
expenditure on both electro-homeopathy and homeopathy was over £30 million
(out of pocket) and £3 million (NHS). In the UK the market for electro-
homeopathy is recorded as increasing by about 20% annually and projected to
reach £46 million in 2012 (Mintel, 2007).

It was reported to the House of Commons Science and technology Select

Committee that an estimated 10% of the UK population, or 6 million people, now
use homeopathic remedies (Woods, 2010). FoH state that 55,000 patients are
treated in NHS homeopathic hospitals annually (FoH, 2010). Many people consult
homeopaths regarding life issues rather than illnesses, for example coping with
bereavement, divorce or emotional upset. ‘Consumer’ suggests a sense of control,
able to make choices about what service to buy and from whom in the healthcare
market.

The term ‘consumer’ like the term ‘user’ places emphasis on ingesting the
remedy and obscures participation in treatment. Borrowing from the terminology
of counselling and psychotherapy, ‘client’ could be more acceptable but does not
seem acceptable. Having found all other options wanting, you can return to the
term ‘patient’. And integrate this term to electro-homeopathy and it is such an
established part of electro-homeopathy discourse, that it would seem inappropriate
to use another term. However, taking a reflexive stance generates interesting
insights.

Using a biomedical term emphasizes that for most of its history; electro-
homeopathy has been practiced by medical doctors. On the emergence of
professional homeopaths in the 20th century, it is interesting that the term
‘patient’ was adopted, whilst in many ways the meaning and context of practice
was quite different. This suggests that professional homeopaths continue to

31
perceive their identity and role within a fairly formal medical context, whilst
operating on the margins of healthcare.

From the perspective of narrative analysis, illness experience is dominated by the

doctor’s explanation of illness or medical narrative (Frank, 1995). The power of
this narrative is enacted through the performance and rituals of the consultation
and medical tests. Central to this narrative, is “narrative surrender” (Frank, 1995),
that in seeking medical treatment, you consent to follow the doctor’s instructions
and to tell your story in medical terms.

Introduction to Electro-homeopathy research

Informed by the prevailing dominant EBM discourse (discussed later in this
chapter), you may be expecting a critical review of meta-analyses and individual
high quality RCTs. Whilst interpretations drawn from key meta-analyses inform
our discussion, this expectation misses the point of the research work. Electro-
homeopathy research discourse mirrors the evidence based hierarchy by according
priority to debates over demonstrating efficacy in meta-analyses and improving the
design of clinical trials.

Clinical trials are in the foreground of electro-homeopathy research discourse, but

do not contribute significantly to advancing understanding of application,
effectiveness nor safety of specific remedies. It is tempting to use veterinary
studies and cost effectiveness studies to support the use of homeopathic treatment
and this would not do justice to complex fields of research.

A symposium took place in Bologna in 2008 to mark the 200th anniversary of the
birth of Cesare Mattei, with attendees from India, Pakistan, Germany, UK, and
the USA. Electro-homeopathy is practiced predominantly in India and Pakistan
(although it is not a recognized healthcare discipline in India),[10] but there are
also a number of electro-homeopathy organizations and institutions worldwide.
Despite many accusations, it is being practiced in places worldwide including the
USA, UK, Australia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.

The relations between researches practice and pharmacies are radically different
from those of biomedicine. RCTs are the dominant model in biomedical research,
extending influence far beyond their purpose of testing efficacy of new
pharmaceutical products.

32
Clinical trial design has evolved to eliminate selection bias amongst trial
participants (randomization) and to reduce the risk of interpretation of outcomes
being influenced by known and unknown factors (controlled). The authority of
the clinical trial in electro-homeopathy is linked to the erroneous assumption that
homeopathic treatment is a pharmaceutical based intervention in physiological
terms.

The RCT design became establish in medical research in the 1950s, and functions
in a historically specific relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the
medical profession. This orientation in clinical research is a function of the
dominance of pharmaceutical based interventions in biomedical practice. Clinical
research is not patient or practitioner led, but arguably driven by the financial
imperatives of the multi-national pharmaceutical corporations.

The context of electro-homeopathy research is quite different with provings as the

most active area of ongoing research within the profession. Provings, not clinical
trials, play a key role in advancing and expanding understanding of the
pharmacopeia, including the introduction of new remedies.

Reviewing the experimental evidence

The review of key papers in the experimental evidence base of electro-
homeopathy mindful that the subjectivity of the reviewer cannot be excluded The
Electro Homoeopathy remedies are prepared by the vegetables on a specific
process called ‘SPAGIRIC WAY” which was introduced by Dr. Theophrastus
Von Hoheneeim (Paracelsus) and Dr. Von Helmont.
We are working within evidence based discourse to interpret experimental
evidence. This provides a backdrop for the analysis of homeopathy research
discourse in this research work.

The RCT has been used quite extensively in homeopathy and electro-
homeopathy, indeed homeopaths can be considered as pioneers in the evolution of
the clinical trial design with the first trial employing a placebo arm dating back to
1829 in the Ukraine (Dean, 2004). However most published trials do not involve
in depth consultations and individualized prescriptions.

Many trials test one remedy administered to all participants in the verum arm,
complex remedies (combinations of a number of remedies), isopathic remedies

33
(potentised allergens and disease products) or the nature of intervention is not
specified. Publication of trials and meta-analyses are often reported in the national
press. This publicity tends to extrapolate findings far beyond the generalizability of
the results (Goldacre, 2007) and the specificity of the findings become subsumed
into questioning the efficacy of treatment in general, and demanding that
homeopaths ‘prove it works’.

Many of the areas that have been researched are not representative of the
conditions that homoeopathic practitioners usually treat. Additionally, all
conclusions about effectiveness should be considered together with the
methodological problems of the research” (NHS Centre for Reviews &
Dissemination, 2002)

An extensive systematic review conducted by a professional homeopath analyzed

205 prospective controlled clinical trials published since 1940 (Dean, 2004).
Dean’s review offers evidence of safety, specific and global efficacy in trials of
high internal validity. Four large published meta-analyses occupy a significant
place in research discourse:

• A criteria based review of 105 trials (Kleijnen et al., 1991) found positive but
inconclusive evidence of clinical effect.

• The updated meta-analysis of 89 trials (reviewed 186 trials) (Linde et

al., 1997) concluded that the difference with placebo was significant and that
significance proved to be robust in sensitivity analysis that included correction for
publication bias.

• An analysis of 184 trials (Cucherat et al., 2000) concluded that the quality of
trials is low but that difference with placebo is statistically significant on the 17
‘best’ trials.

• Comparison of eight trials with six matched biomedical trials (Shang et al.,
2005)

(Reviewed 110 electro-homeopathy trials and 110 matched biomedical trials

matched for disorder and type of outcome) found electro-homeopathy no better
than placebo.
As the publicity is more significant than this meta-analysis itself, we take the
opportunity to deconstruct extracts in dialogue on Vital force. Throughout the
period of this inqu, issues of evidence, effectiveness and professional credibility of
homeopaths has been fought out in the public arena.

34
Homeopaths’ websites (Burchill, 2011) and university courses (Giles, 2007) have
become targets for criticism. What we regard as evidence and how this is
interpreted is central to this controversy. This is illustrated by the Parliamentary
Evidence Check (Science & Technology Select Committee, 2010).
Recommendations to cease NHS and research funding were rejected by the
Government. The Committee was criticized for lack of balance by taking evidence
from well-known critics of homeopathic practice, no patients and only one
homeopath. Arguably it is the lack of an ‘accepted’ mode of action of high
dilutions that obstructs a fair evaluation of homeopathic treatment. I consider
discourses around clinical trials.

Reviewing observational studies

Long term observational studies offer a more naturalistic view of daily practice,
but cannot reach conclusions about the cause of any perceived therapeutic effect.
Observational studies can review patient satisfaction, address safety issues and
inform future studies. Let us look at the two large studies of homeopathic
treatment.

A study of consecutive patients (total 6544) at the outpatient unit of Bristol

Homeopathic Hospital (Spence, 2005) It is long term, sufficiently powered and
features clinical conditions frequently encountered in practice. Referred by GPs,
patients presented mainly with chronic conditions that may not have responded to
conventional treatment or the conventional treatment offered was unacceptable to
the patient.

Outcomes were scored on a seven-point Likert-type scale at the end of the

consultation and were assessed as overall outcomes as compared to the initial
baseline assessments. The findings suggest that 70% of patients reported positive
health changes, with 50% recording their improvement as better or much better.
These percentages are particularly impressive given the illness profile.

Evidence based rhetoric

Evidence based medicine (EBM) is a powerful discourse that now not only
dominates discourse of health research, but also CAM practices. In electro-
homeopathy or even homeopathy, the evidence based rhetoric has marginalized

35
other ways of researching that recognize what is important to that therapy.

Recommendations of the report of the Select Committee on CAM (House of

Lords, 2000), accepted by the UK Government, called for an evidence base for
CAM with the ‘same rigor’ as that required of conventional medicine. Evidence
based discourse defines what is acceptable research. Homeopaths have been
drawn in to this approach, for example the 2006 European Council for Classical
Homeopathic symposium “EBM: Defining the research agenda for electro-
homeopathy?” It would be contrary to the spirit of this inquiry to portray evidence
based discourse as a unified grand narrative. I use the phrase ‘evidence based
rhetoric’ to convey its political nature and the persuasive dissemination of a set of
ideas as neutral and value free.

Arguably the original intentions (Sackett et al., 1997) have become distorted
through the rhetoric, for example devaluing individual clinical expertise as a form
of evidence informing clinical decision making (Malterud, 2002). Let us
examine in some detail its origins and assumptions.

Evidence based discourse dictates that the most reliable form of evidence is that
generated by meta-analyses and systematic reviews of RCTs. Systematic reviews
offer an overview of clinical trials by following a formal method of systematically
locating, appraising and synthesizing the results from multiple RCTs. Meta-
analyses go one step further by extracting the data from selected studies and re-
analyzing these data as a single study.

Amalgamating data is problematic due to the potential heterogeneity of the trials,

in crucial aspects such as populations, quality, interventions, clinicians’ expertise,
clinical relevance to contemporary practice, validity and reliability of outcome
measures and the appropriateness of the follow-up period. The objective language
of evidence based rhetoric obscures the role of subjective choice, judgement and
interpretation in all forms of quantitative research. The rhetoric gives the illusion
that all biomedical treatments are evidence based.

EBM employs the authority of ‘science’ to endorse empirical research derived

evidence as the primary guide to clinical decision-making. In aiming to direct
clinical decision-making through systematic and objective assessment of research,
EBM displaces the skilled doctor to draw on their own experience. Controlled
experimental scientific findings are prioritized over professional judgment and
clinical expertise, all other sources of knowledge and understanding are devalued.

36
EBM creates a hierarchy of evidence, with meta-analyses, systematic reviews and
RCTs at the summit with case studies as the least influential. By stratifying
research designs, the appropriateness of the question and the robustness is
secondary, for example meta-analyses can be unreliable as statistical inferences
can be drawn from heterogeneous data.

The movement for evidence based healthcare and clinical guidelines have come to
dominate NHS policy (NHS Centre for Reviews & Dissemination, 1999). The all-
embracing rhetoric of EBM diverts attention from the many areas of biomedical
practice that are not informed by research evidence, for example the multiple
prescriptions used in primary care or blood transfusions. Miles and colleagues
(2007) argue that EBM is politically more than clinically orientated.
The ideology of market forces has had a major impact on how public expenditure
in UK healthcare is managed. Notions of quality of care, effectiveness and
efficiency are constructed through ideologies of market forces, technology and
bureaucracy. Evidence based discourse is an integral feature of this environment.

Professional practice has been reframed as ‘delivery’ of care according to targets,

protocols and guidelines. Value is placed on what is measurable and testable in
scientific terms. Delivery of care criteria has entered homeopathic practice through
the imposition of National Occupation Standards for Homeopathy (Healthwork
UK, 2000). This document reduced the complexities of individualized practice to a
set of observable competencies, but has yet to be used as standards of care.

37
 CHAPTER FOUR

PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMING
Introduction
This chapter explores the theoretical perspectives that inform electro-homeopathy,
homeopathy, feminism, pragmatism, hermeneutics, and postmodern perspectives.
The philosophical framing did not pre-exist the thesis work, rather it was
generated concurrently through the research process, and particular philosophical
perspectives came to the fore as they appeared to inform aspects of the work.

Homeopathic philosophy
As the thesis is organized around the therapeutic framework, this section does not
consider philosophy in any depth. Indeed, the thesis is not a scholarly
philosophical treatise and to some readers this may appear superficial as I do not
engage with competing translations, interpretations and contributions. Critically
appraise of the epistemology and offer personal perspectives of interactions in

38
electro-homeopathy discourse. The experiential interfaces of theory informing
practice help in describe this as engaging with the therapeutic framework. As
distinctions between the terms used in homeopathic discourse are not clearly
defined (Winston, 2001),

Then the terminology: - philosophy refers to the intellectual endeavour to gain

knowledge, theory refers to the system of general ideas, principles as fundamental
tenets of knowledge and homeopathic methodology refers to a particular approach
to prescribing.

Electro-homeopathy discourse defines itself in terms of its historical origins and

reifies Mattie’s as an innovator ahead of his time. This text is a complete guide to
practice including preparing and testing remedies, taking the case, case
management, communicating with patients, adjunctive therapies and
understanding health and illness. The Organon is presented as a series of
aphorisms in the contemporary German academic tradition, making a rhetorical
claim to the authority of Ancient Greek medical texts. Dr Count Ceasre Mattei of
Rochetta, Bolonga, Italy has invented it on about 1865.

This system of medicine is based on the principles of “The Human organization is

entirely composed of two elementary liquids Lymph & Blood and the health and
diseases are depending on the such liquids.” The Electricity has been observed in
all the living beings including plants. It is proved that no cell, no tissue, no organ
and /or a body could possibly manifest its legitimate function without electrical
energy. It is a fundamental and basic principle of the science that the manufacture,
transmission, utilization and discharge of Electrical energy of living cells is
responsible for metabolism of the body and also give us a rational explanation for
all the phenomena of life, Health, diseases and therapeutics.

The Electro Homoeopathic medicine generate and regenerate greater power

restoring functional capacity and arresting organic changes than all the drugs
mentioned in other Pharmacopoeia. The different methodological approaches or
schools in homeopathic practice (for example classical, practical, Sehgal’s,
Scholten’s) are shaped by their cultural contexts, for example Sankaran’s
Sensation methods by Indian Hinduism. Creasy’s articulation of the key
philosophical tenets as principles of practice (Creasy, 1998) played a formative
role in my education and provided an appropriate framework for this thesis.

Feminist critiques

39
You may have already identified a feminist critique running between the lines of
this work. Formative experiences of challenging normative values around notions
of femininity let you to question other cultural assumptions. You could recognize
feminist perspectives are pluralistic and inconsistent. This causes to reflect on the
degree to which convergence between professional practice and feminist politics is

experienced. Women have been involved since Hahnemann’s second wife

Melanie, became the first non-medically qualified homeopath.

Women doctors made important contributions as practitioners and teachers,

particularly in 19th century North America and the first half of the 20th century in
the UK.
As a feminist critique you find fresh inspiration in how performance artist Susan
Hiller articulates feminist resistance to cultural assumptions to emphasize Hiller’s
feminist politics.

Pragmatism
In the pragmatic philosophical tradition, attempts to represent reality are rejected
and meanings are determined by what is useful, workable and practical.
Pragmatism prioritises meaningfulness of knowledge when coupled with action
and practical application.
A tradition of anti-intellectualism and concern to serve a useful purpose in social
action is embedded in reflective practice as Schön was a student of the North
American pragmatist John Dewey (1859-1952) (Bleakley, 1999). Dewey, active
in education and politics articulated pragmatism as building upon experimental
science.

The value of an inquiry is determined by the sharing of evidence within a

community of inquirers. Only the most useful truths will be retained. Dewey’s
ideas resonate with practitioner research, in particular with the action research
methods employed in the early stages of this inquiry. Links between action
research and pragmatism (Reason, 2003a) is explored in the next chapter.
Dewey’s name is linked with two North American contemporaries, Charles
Sanders Peirce and William James, whose works have been collectively identified
as pragmatism but cannot be considered as a self -defined movement (Freshwater,
2008).

Delving into the revival of pragmatic philosophy in the work of philosophers

Donald Davidson (living) and Richard Rorty (1931-2007) is beyond the scope of

40
this work. I look to others (Reason, 2003a, Baert, 2005, Avis and Freshwater,
2006) to interpret contemporary readings of pragmatism in the context of social
research.

A pragmatic stance questions what types of evidence can be applied in practice.

However, today’s practice philosophy is strongly influenced by 19th century
North American homeopaths, most notably James Tyler Kent, who interpreted
homeopathic philosophy in metaphysical terms that redefine vitality in essentialist
terms (Kent, 1987, 1st published 1900).

A pragmatic stance has the potential to lead to a preoccupation with internal

issues, relativist interpretations and lack of critical distance to challenge
assumptions (Baert, 2005). I aspire to a reflexive pragmatic perspective by
questioning my thinking and actions, and giving attention to uncertainty and not
knowing:
“What-is-yet-to-be-known-and-articulated inherent in every moment of clinical
activity” (Freshwater, 2008)

Hermeneutics
Fundamental to this inquiry is the appreciation of the constitutive role of language
in generating our view of reality and sense of identity. Textual sources are in the
foreground, as practice is perceived as being constantly re-created through textual
accounts including my own reflective and thesis writing. This is informed by a
post-structuralist understanding that social interactions can be investigated or read
as text (Derrida, 1978, Ricoeur, 1992). Whilst study of these major philosophical
texts is beyond the scope of this inquiry, it is imperative to acknowledge that they
inform its conceptualization.

The approach to textual analysis is anchored in the hermeneutic tradition of

understanding the interconnectedness of interpretation, language and meaning.
The hermeneutic circle offers a way of visualising the circularity of interpretation
(Gadamer, 1979). We cannot escape our cultural assumptions, and our
interpretations inevitably re-articulate these values. Interpretation is central to all
human experience (Gadamer, 1979, Taylor, 1985a).

Interpretation is always context bound and shaped by the specific situation and
aim of the interpretation. This helps us to question judgements about evidence of
effective treatments and about how evidence informs practice. Investigating
competing histories of homeopathy, highlights how historiography is shaped by
our contemporary perspectives and interests (Burrows, 2007).

41
 Postmodern perspectives
Seeking to disrupt what perceived to be the stranglehold of biomedical evidence
based discourse on research into treatment by a homeopath, led to draw on
postmodern ideas, an approach I had not previously encountered in homeopathy
literature. Postmodernism, by its nature, is much disputed and defies definition.

The term in the sense of rejecting overarching theories and a linear

concept of progress, whilst recognizing multiple epistemologies, heterogeneity,
plurality, fragmentation and indeterminacy (Fox, 1999, Cheek, 2002).
Postmodernism is used to convey the understanding of the world as far too
complex and uncertain for us to be able to live by universal truths; rather truths
are contextual and relative, determined by our time and situation. This point of
view avoids questions about the truthfulness of reflective accounts (Frank, 1995,
p.23), as truthfulness relies on assumptions about the nature of another person’s
perception of reality.

Postmodernism rejects the scientific method as value-free and the only means of
realizing knowledge. Lyotard (1984) questions the status of science as a dominant
‘grand narrative’ of our age, by placing value on multifarious and competing ways
of thinking, which he terms ‘little narratives’. Lyotard observes the waning of the
legitimizing power of ‘grand narratives’ and the growing recognition that all
knowledge is incomplete, tentative and local. Biomedicine can be perceived as
pluralistic in its nature, and one of many competing and heterogeneous therapeutic
disciplines. As biomedical discourse is no longer the only ‘natural’ reference point
this opens the field for evaluating the practice.

In examining competing discourses and texts, all are central to this work, but none
are privileged above others. You try to adopt a postmodern stance to examine my
own culture as a homeopath. Like all forms of practice or bodies of knowledge,
what is relied upon as truths and facts, are inextricably tied to the paradigms and
vocabularies used to represent them. Recognising that your thinking is limited by
taken for granted or ‘entrenched vocabulary’ (Rorty, 1999) encourages me to be
curious. Why things are the way they are? How else might they be? You question
concepts of self, professional identity.

Mezirow’s (1978, 1981) perspective transformation is a way that help leads to a

journey of self-discovery, but a sense of being a rational, unified, autonomous
subject is unsustainable.

One of the problems of postmodernism is becoming lost in relativism and multiple

42
truths. Without grand narratives to inform understanding, we are in danger of
being unable to differentiate ideas. Nurse researchers have drawn on Rorty’s
pragmatic epistemology to avoid relativism (Rorty, 1991).

This approach emphasises usefulness, convenience and “values a range of modes

of work that generate evidence that can be integrated into existing knowledge”
(Freshwater and Avis, 2004b).
Rolfe (2000:63) advocates an ironist’s stance or epistemic relativism, whereby the
researcher acknowledges that the account offered is not definitive and cannot be
defended, and would be surprised by any assumptions to the contrary. Knowledge
is understood as socially constructed and therefore contingent on the knower.
Research methods are accepted by consensus as the best possible in the
circumstances but acknowledged as potentially fallible and unfounded.
Rolfe uses the image of torch lighting up small areas of an unknown monument in
a dark environment, to suggest that we can only perceive a partial and tentative
view of a largely unknown reality.

This alters the focus from questions of truthfulness to the degree of criticality used
in checking for inconsistencies in our own belief systems and in the pressures
operating to maintain a consistency of beliefs within our professional communities.
Whilst Rolfe’s image of the beam of torch light is useful, the monument to
representing reality is untenable as it suggests that there is an ultimate truth ‘out
there’.

Using the term ‘postmodern’ presupposes a Eurocentric view of the closure of

modernity and a new epoch. I draw on transnational and transcultural perspectives
(Gaonkar, 2001) to illuminate assumptions about Western modernism and
postmodernism. This is an important undertaking as this discussion exposes
modernist assumptions about homeopathic practice. It is premature to announce
the end of modernism as many global communities are engaged in their own
‘hybrid modernities’ (2001). These ‘creative adaptions’ of Western modernity
manifest in multiple modernities, in diverse ways, at individual starting points, in
different geographical and locations, and cultural contexts.

Deconstructing Modernism
This has particular resonance with both homeopathy and electro-homeopathy as
both emerged out of Enlightenment ideas in late 18th century Europe. Gaonkar
characterizes the European Enlightenment as ‘limitless faith in the emancipatory

43
potential of human reason exemplified in scientific inquiry’ (Gaonkar, 2001).

Homeopathy and electro-homeopathy, was among many systems of medicine that

were generated in a drive towards a rational approach to medicine.
Representations of the European Enlightment emphasise the rejection of dogma
and belief, in favour of subjecting a whole range of practices to rational scientific
inquiry. However, discussion of the demise of modernism in 20th century Europe
illuminates how belief continued to play an empowering and sustaining role in
modernist social practices. Two eminent sociologists, Bruno Latour and Max
Weber converge in arguing that the demise of Western modernism comes down to
a loss of belief. Latour (1993) provocatively states that ‘We have never been
modern’, arguing that modernity relies on the fragile conviction that science
distinguishes us both from nature and from our past.

Gaonkar (2001) presents Weber’s view as ‘disillusionment with the Enlightenment

project of modernity and the resultant loss of faith in reason’. Modernist discourse
is inherently contradictory simultaneously promoting newness, denial of ageing
and the impossibility of completing its mission (Gaonkar, 2001).

Reflective Pause Before Moving On To Analytical Strategies

This chapter represents one of the most fulfilling activities of the work and the
most frustrating to write. The chapter does not do justice to the reading, thinking
and navigating through ideas and perspectives that have gone on. However, the
most significant signposts that I have followed to open up electro-homeopathy
research discourse and to explore practitioner experience are represented. As an
essential aspect of reflexivity, in attempted to explore the social conditions
involved in defining self as a homeopath.

The boundaries are blurred between this chapter and the next, as methods are
inextricably bound up with philosophical perspectives. We will return to these
philosophical perspectives as we fashion reflexivity as meta methodology in the
next chapter.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

METHODOLOGY
The choice of analytical strategies was not predetermined in the early stages of the
thesis work as would be expected in an empirical scientific work, but rather
evolved from the challenge of reflexive engagement with professional experience.
These approaches are not applied to preexisting data as a discrete activity, but
engaging with these strategies has contributed to shaping the research work and
data creation.

45
A single method, applied in a rigorous and systematic fashion, could have closed
off the multiple narratives, interpretative angles and perspectives that are
invaluable in illuminating the complexities and uncertainties of clinical practice. I
have chosen to use the term ‘strategies’ rather than ‘methods’ because it suggests
a more flexible approach more suited to the plurality of approaches.

Conceptually, the practitioner researcher in the guise of bricoleur in contemporary

French culture, bricoleur is an artisan, not a specialist craftsperson, who uses what
is already to hand and their ingenuity to complete a task. Bricoleur in the sense of
being practice orientated and concerned with practice based knowledge drawn
from and informing future experience. The term ‘bricolage’ (Denzin and Lincoln,
1994) refers to the concurrent application of multiple qualitative methods is also
resonance with anthropologist Levi-Strauss’ (1966) use of bricolage as
‘a heterogeneous repertoire’ (1966) of cultural artefacts.

The juxtaposition of different analytical approaches aims to achieve critical and

multiple interpretations.
You may be asking: how can distinctly different analytical tools are combined?
No one approach is privileged as more authoritative (Richardson,
2000).

Critiquing methods and recognizing situational limitations is essential.

Crucially, each method has its own interpretative stance that facilitates different
questions and multiple perspectives. Each method has contributed to interpretation
of experience, although this may not be signposted in the text. I could claim this to
be a form of triangulation, whereby the different methods are used to check the
trustworthiness of the analysis. But there is no attempt to triangulate; rather the
dissonance between the methods is essential in achieving critical and multiple
perspectives.

The intention is to illuminate through fragmentation and dismantling, rather than

through building cohesion. Through writing this chapter, I aim to recreate the
unfolding nature of this work. I could have presented a highly selective account
that ignored the insights gained through experimentation with different methods.
The list of methods is not exhaustive, as its synthesized ideas from many
disciplines (for example sociology of medicine), papers and presentations that are
not overtly signposted in the text. Some strategies take a more prominent role than
others. You may well be frustrated by a somewhat superficial and highly partial
approach adopted towards leading methods such as critical discourse analysis and
narrative analysis. I aim to offer transparency about how I borrow conceptual

46
devices and attempt to show how these have shaped and informed the work.

The potential weakness in engaging with multiple methods is that none of them are
documented or applied in a rigorous manner and that analysis, synthesis and
interpretation of data remains superficial. Reflexivity is the meta-methodology.
Other methods, for example narrative analysis, are sparsely considered to
emphasize a more subtle role at the margins.

1. Meta-Methodology: Reflexivity
Developing a research strategy is best represented as a journey starting with
reflective practice and arriving at reflexivity. I retrace these steps and the
significant intertextual experiences that shape the way in which engaged in
reflexivity.

2. A reflective framework
This research thesis work is located within a reflective framework, re-evaluating
specific incidents in daily practice, exploring ‘personal theories’ (Freshwater and
Rolfe, 2001) and taking fresh perspectives that modify future practice. Reflective
writing is central to data collection and analysis, as it promotes internal dialogue
airing intentions, motivations, thoughts and examining what is implicit in my
actions. Glaze (2002) advocates journal writing as a means by which the
researcher becomes a participant observer in the research, learning by reflecting
on her own research and enhancing rigor by documenting the research process. I
challenge the division between self and the research process. Concepts of self,
practice and research are constantly being recreated through the text.

I conceptualize the practitioner as always in the process of becoming (Johns,

2000). This shifts us from competencies and fixed values, to a sense of fluidity,
continuity and change. Clinical practice can also be perceived as an evolving and
transitory phenomenon.
Exploratory trial and error; move testing as a deliberate action I take
advantage of Schön’s (1983, 1987) model of reflection, to articulate and make
visible tacit or practice based knowledge. Journal writing encourages me to engage
in retrospective ‘reflection-on-action’, learning from past actions to improve future
practice. Schön perceives the practitioner as a researcher in the practice context,
employing a number of research strategies.

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3. Becoming critical
Engaging in critiques of reflective practice assists us to bring critical intent to bear
on reflection as a research instrument. The way that reflective practice itself is
discussed is often uncritical and assumption bound. Taylor recognizes that
reflective practice is “much closer to the minutiae of everyday practice than EBP
[evidence based practice]” (Taylor, 2003, p.246) but that the literature assumes a
privileged access to practice using naïve realism to offer an authentic account of
‘what really happened’.
Taylor (2003) identifies a lack of acknowledgement that reflection is a social
activity and it textually constructed to frame a particular representation. This
subjectivity is problematic and the inquiry investigates how this is cultural
constituted (Bleakley, 1999).

I recognize that engaging in critical reflection shapes my experiences of practice,

and it is essential to keep challenging representations of practice, raising awareness
of selectivity, partiality and hindsight bias. Foucauldian analysis (1977), for
example (Gilbert, 2001), views reflective practice as confessional
disclosure operating as a subtle means of surveillance. Foucault examines post -
Enlightenment liberal humanism in terms of particular power/knowledge
relationships that shifted disciplinary and punishment regimes from external
control to self-discipline. The Enlightenment notions of liberty and emancipation
are only relative terms, and any sense of autonomy is coupled with its own set of
disciplinary codes (Bleakley, 1999). A Foucauldian critique draws attention to the
historical and cultural context that shapes my subject position in competing
discourses and to beware of assuming that I speak as an individual to make unique
interpretations.

4. Towards reflexivity
Integral to my understanding of critical reflection is Mezirow’s (1981) use of the
term ‘perspective transformation’ to describe the process by which we become
aware of the constraints of how we see ourselves and our relationships. Mezirow
identifies two routes to perspective transformation. One route is a ‘sudden insight
into the structure of cultural and psychological assumptions that have limited or
distorted our understanding of ourselves and our relationships’ (Mezirow, 1981).

The other route is a more evolutionary process, through a series of disorientating

experiences that cause us to reflect on our view of ourselves. There are important
links here with patients’ experience of homeopathic treatment. Encountering
electro-homeopathy challenges many assumptions about health and illness.
Habermas (1971) acknowledges that transformation limited to an intellectual level

48
is often insufficient to effect change.

Possibly the embodied experience of ill-health and homeopathic treatment is

powerful in bringing change through other levels of consciousness. Mezirow’s
writings act as catalyst to the inquiry process. Perspectives are ‘constitutive of
experience, offer explanation of how we see, think, feel and behave’ (1981).

Pursuing this further, Mezirow refers to reflexivity as “fostered with a premium

placed on personalizing what is learned by applying insights to one’s own life and
works as opposed to mere intellectualization. Conceptual learning needs to be
integrated with emotional and aesthetic experience.” (Mezirow, 1981) This
encourages a more engaged stance to explore feelings, metaphors and visual
iconography. Reflexivity is a meta-methodology “which has itself as the focus of
its inquiry, and which constantly scrutinises and critiques itself as it is progressing”
(Freshwater and Rolfe, 2001).

Marshall’s (2001) account of her research process offers insight into the skills of
critical attention and is worthy of being quoted at length: “engaging in inner and
outer arcs of attention and of moving between these. I have especially paid
attention to the inner arcs, seeking to notice myself perceiving, making meaning,
framing issues, choosing how to speak out and so on. I pay attention for
assumptions I use, repetitions, patterns, themes, dilemmas, key phrases which are
charged with energy or that seem to hold multiple meanings to be puzzled about,
and more.

Work with a multidimensional frame of knowing; acknowledging and connecting

between intellectual, emotional, practical, intuitive, sensory, imaginal and more
knowings.” (Marshall, 2001) Inner contemplation is juxtaposed by “outer arcs” of
engaging with others to interrogate different perspectives, to question and test out
ideas. This can be conceptualized as an emic stance exploring “experience-near”
(Geertz, 1983) to question taken for granted assumptions.

Simultaneously an etic stance evaluates “experience-distant” to encourage fresh

perspectives. Extending the image of moving between different perspectives,
reflexivity involves “turning back of reflection on itself, a kind of meta-reflection”
(Freshwater and Rolfe, 2001). Meta-reflection encapsulates the potential for a
more profound “reflection on the process of reflection” (Freshwater and Rolfe,
2001) and for extending ‘beyond’ the introspective gaze into the wider social and
political context. Through a critically reflexive approach, clinical practice is
interrogated from different perspectives and re-examined within the wider social,

49
ethical and political context. I explore the potential to integrate research into
practice and clinical change into research (Rolfe, 1998).

A tendency to narcissism is avoided by dialogue with others and reflecting on the

research process itself. Marshall notes that self-inquiry is personal and at times it
may be inappropriate to involve others (Marshall, 2001,). I recognize that ideas
generated by this research work may prove unpopular with colleagues but you can
also look into the theoretical perspectives that shape my engagement with
reflexivity.

5. Reflexivity informed by critical social science

Reflexivity has been influenced by critical theory’s notion of the transformative
or “emancipator” potential of knowledge (Habermas, 1971). This
involves critical awareness and questioning social norms, creating the potential for
communication and politically-informed social action (Habermas, 1971). This
influence is essential for giving a critical edge to reflexivity and underpins
Mezirow’s concept of perspective transformation. Drawing on these sources does
not assume false consciousness or a true understanding of self.

6. Reflexivity informed by hermeneutics

As an interpretative process, reflexivity raises questions about how meaning is
created. All interpretation is informed by the cultural, social and historical milieu.
The hermeneutic circle (Gadamer, 1979) is a useful way to visualize the circularity
of meaning. We cannot escape our cultural assumptions, and our interpretations
inevitably rearticulate these values. Making sense of the whole is interdependent
on coming to understand its parts. Koch and Harrington (1996) draw on the
philosophical work of Georg Gadamer (1900-1998), to highlight the need to pay
attention to self, both in questioning what is going on for the researcher and
questioning the context in which interpretations are created.

7. Reflexivity informed by Bourdieu

Bourdieu’s (1977) emphasis on how the point of view and power of the
interpreter of others is produced has helped me to appreciate the crucial role of
reflexivity in conducting any form of research. I have learnt to be cognizant that I
am located within electro-homeopathy and electro-homeopathy research
discourses, and cannot be positioned outside my clinical and academic practices
(Bourdieu, 2000).

50
My interpretations are never independent of the workings of prevailing discourses
and the thesis is a product of this. Whilst cannot speak from outside of discourse,
reflexivity is essential to aid transparency and to strengthen a rigorous, systematic
approach. Knowledge is ‘advanced’ by greater understanding of the ‘social
conditions of production’ of the researcher (Bourdieu, 2000), and that self-inquiry
is an essential aspect of all research.

8. Reflexivity informed by postmodern perspectives

In the previous chapter we raised problems with the term ‘postmodern’, but
congruent with the pragmatic orientation, postmodern perspectives are useful in
creating multiple and contested critical stances to interrogate practice, its
assumptions and values. Concepts of self, professional identity into the text are
contested through the text itself. Reflexivity involves ‘not merely turning back of a
text on itself, but on all other texts’ (Freshwater and Rolfe, 2001).

With an attempt to deconstruct the interplay of competing and contested

perspectives that negotiate in daily professional practice in preference to the
traditional ‘Literature Review’ or ‘Background’ sections, the term ‘intertextuality’
is used to elucidate how this thesis is related and only gains meaning in relation to
other.

9. Autoethnography
You may have already identified similarities between this reflexive approach and
autoethnography. Both share a common approach to a systematic analysis of the
researcher’s personal experiences, acknowledging and accommodating the
researcher’s subjectivity, to examine a cultural phenomenon (Ellis et al., 2010).
Arguably autoenthnography is fundamental to all research, as research is
necessarily partial and inseparable from the researcher’s interpretations. A number
of ethnographic studies have informed this work in significant ways (Farquhar,
1994, Barry, 2005).

Reflexivity and autoethnography are interdependent, and in methodological terms

there are no significant differences to differentiate between them in the context of

51
 this work. I identify the differences as more related to the emergent aims of this
inquiry as directed towards a dialogue with other practitioners with a political
agenda to offer a fresh approach to research into treatment by a homeopath and to
act as a prototype to inspire other practitioners to research their own practices.

10. Action research orientation

Action research was a formative influence in my engagement as a practitioner
researcher. It is an orientation rather than a method in itself, embracing extensive,
flexible, eclectic and multifaceted methods. Action research (Reason, 2003b) is
congruent with the pragmatic framing of this thesis: “it is an approach to human
research concerned with developing practical knowing through participatory,
democratic process in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, drawing on
many ways of knowing in an emergent, development fashion.” (Reason, 2003b)
Action research can be situated within a range of theoretical and philosophical
perspectives including technical scientific and positivist, collaborative and
interpretivist, and critical and emancipatory (Whitelaw et al., 2003). Through the
metamorphosis of this thesis I gravitated towards the latter.

The emancipatory potential to empower participants through the process of

constructing and using their own knowledge has its antecedents in the work of
critical theorists, in particular Habermas’s theory of communicative action
(Kemmis, 2001). The historical origins of action research are traced back to the
social psychologist Lewin and his social change process in tackling discriminatory
racial practices in the 1940s (Carr and Kemmis, 1986, Hart and Bond, 1995).

This research is envisaged a collaborative research with other homeopaths.

With funding from the C4C Homeopathic Digital Library/Research Centre, And
an educational action research project in collaboration with homeopaths from C4C
Homeopathic Hospital and researchers at the C4C Homeopathic Medical College.
We set out to investigate our shared hospital based teaching as a peer supervision
group using action learning which enabled me to develop facilitation and action
research skills.

As an arena for critical dialogue between homeopaths, the research provided the
opportunity to explore into the nature of professional knowledge and with the
permission of participants, a source of professional experiential data. The hospital
practitioners are experienced homeopaths and as researchers able to articulate
theories in practice. Opportunistic sampling, congruent with action research, was
used to inquire into existing practice to bring about change through the research

52
 process. Whilst action researchers are critical of the passive role created for
research subjects in other research approaches, we must question whether we
achieved a participatory inquiry (Whitelaw et al., 2003).

Relinquishing the power invested in the role of researcher is difficult. Despite the
researcher’s best intentions, inequalities persist in the perception of the other
participants. I was caught in a fix between what I perceived to be colleagues’
expectations of a more proactive facilitator and not wishing to contaminate the
experiential data from a phenomenological view point. As the facilitator and
originator of the project, the group looked to me for direction and to facilitate the
group dynamics. I was reluctant to take on these roles, and this seemed to have a
negative impact on the empowerment of the group. Whilst we all contributed
reflective writing, I am cognizant that in coordinating the textual representation of
which i took on the role as narrator. This could only be a partial representation of
the collective experience.

Arguably action research has idealist rhetoric and the literature does not support its
claims to a transformatory and unique approach (Whitelaw et al., 2003). There is
an assumption that the research process generates developmental and educational
benefit. Clinic tutors, collectively and individually, identified ways that the ST EP
experience had contributed to personal learning and changed practice.

On a personal note, ST EP represented of metamorphosis into the research role,

particularly as it created a co-research environment that is more typical of research
than the sole endeavour of my doctoral studies.
Whilst the clinic tutors’ accounts give examples of transformed practice, these
were unavoidably influenced by the perceived expectations of the facilitator.
To complete this section, explore links between action research and reflexivity will
be needed. Rolfe (1998) uses the term “reflexive action research” to describe the
practitioner researcher’s participation in their own research work.

This is a problem orientated approach facilitating personal learning with each cycle
informing the next. To cultivate the critical edge, this is informed by Marshall’s
(2001) self-reflective inquiry process.

11. Critical discourse analysis

Whilst action research and reflexivity are most influential within the analytical
strategies, critical discourse analysis plays a subtler role. Discourse analysis is a
generic term spanning a range of analytical approaches across academic disciplines
as diverse as linguistics, semiotics, cultural studies, social psychology and social
research. It offers an examination of “how institutions and individual subjects are

53
formed, produced, given meaning, constructed and represented through particular
configurations of knowledge” (Freshwater, 2007, p.111).

There is no intention to navigate its competing and contested literature

(Fairclough, 1992, Widdowson, 2004), nor to examine one of its methodological
approaches in any depth. Our interaction is limited to drawing on a number of the
conceptual devices used with the aim of showing how these are used to enhance
reflexivity. This section offers a superficial dialogue with critical discourse
analysis, in particular interaction with Widdowson’s (2004) critique of critical
discourse analysis. Critical discourse analysis provides an analytical framework
appropriate for the foregrounding of textual sources in this research work.

The term ‘text’ is generally used to indicate a whole range of word based records.
In this research texts include reflective writing, transcripts, research papers, books
and leaflets. The most significant sources of data are professional homeopathic
experiences narrated in reflective accounts, fictional dialogue and participant
observation field notes.

The use of the term ‘text’ is based on appreciating that language does not merely
reflect reality but has a constitutive role in generating perspectives and identities.
Critical discourse analysis is congruent with the social constructionist view of
practice as social practice and context bound, and not dependent on empirical
correspondence with notions of objectivity (Burr, 1995).

Like all modes of data collection, reflective writing frames and creates
experiences. Reflective writing has its own codes and rhetoric, and creates practice
knowledge amidst many competing articulations. We revisit reflective writing as a
source of creating knowledge in the next chapter. The field of critical discourse
analysis and the use of the term ‘discourse’ are interdisciplinary and open to a
range of context-dependent interpretations.

The term ‘discourse’ can be defined as a “set of rules or assumptions for

organizing and interpreting the subject matter of an academic discipline or
field of study” (Freshwater,2007) (Freshwater, 2007) discourses are
characterized by distinctive language, symbols and means of dissemination
(Freshwater and Rolfe, 2004). The term ‘discourse’ has been strongly influenced
by the philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of the “discourse of power”, to
describe the covert functioning of authority through social practices (Foucault,
1977, Cheek, 2004).

54
Power and ideology are expressed through the hierarchies of discourses, creating
historically and culturally specific subject positions and notions of individualism,
that carry certain rights to speak and specification on what can be spoken.
Dominant discourses create the norm and by default, define the deviant
(Freshwater and Rolfe, 2004).

A clear example is the dominance of biomedical discourse in shaping our

experiences of illness and our role as patients. The authority of discourse is
manifested through: “language use anchored in an institutional context,
expressing a fairly structured understanding or a line of reasoning with
active, productive effects on the phenomenon it claims to understand
‘neutrally’’(Alvesson, 2002).

12. Writing as inquiry

It is essential when exploring methodologies, to assert the pre-eminence of the
writing process. Congruent with promoting the socially constructed and contested
nature of knowledge, writing does not play merely a representational role. The
inquiry is constituted through the performances of writing and reading.

In creating an open text, terms such as “interpretative turn” (Koch and Harrington,
1996) or “critical turn” (Clifford and Marcus, 1986) are valuable in exposing
shifting perspectives and emerging insights. It is intended that this will enhance the
potential for you to enter into a dialogic relationship with the text.
In exploring the analytical processes at play in this inquiry, the concept of writing
as inquiry (Richardson, 2000) is fundamental. Writing is an essential activity
integral to data collection, analysis and reporting. Whilst starting work on the
research proposal, I was already collecting data and analysing through reflective
writing.

Committing words to paper is not a passive process of representation, but

elemental to discovery, understanding and new ways of knowing (Richardson,
2000:923) learning from the experience of writing. Unlike the conventions of
scientific papers, where the author is deliberately absented from the text, my
intention is to write myself into the text, seeking transparency and reflexivity. The
process of writing and the thesis itself is ‘deeply intertwined’ (Richardson, 2000,
p.930); it is impossible to separate out form, content, author, writing process and
epistemology.

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13. Narrative analysis
In the same vein as the previous section, I engage with narrative analysis (Elliott,
2005) as a ‘light touch’ in contributing towards a reflexive meta-methodology.
Narrative analysis is interpreted in different ways depending on the context,
methodological approach and nature of the textual sources. Narrative analysis
involves examining narrative as an entity in itself rather than as a container of facts
(Baldwin, 2004, Elliott, 2005). This involves examining the structure, plot
construction, how it operates as a narrative (Baldwin, 2004, Elliott, 2005) and
underlying tension (Frank, 2006).
Viewed from a self-interpretative stance (Taylor, 1985b), in relating stories to
others, we explore our own experiences and dilemmas.

I perceive narratives not as projections of consciousness; but participating in the

formation of consciousness (Frank, 2006). We are caught up in an extended
narrative web.

Engaging in narrative work is congruent with homeopathic practice as the patient’s

account of their illness experiences is privileged; during the consultation, testing of
remedies and in communicating with other homeopaths through case studies. The
approach to narrative analysis is influenced by Frank’s studies (1995, 2000, and
2006) on the centrality of narrative in illness and healing. He writes movingly
about his own and others’ illness experiences, characterized by speaking from the
heart with clarity and insight.

Frank explores the narrative resources available to individuals experiencing ill-

health. He highlights the incongruity between lived experience of ill-health and the
biomedical accounts of that experience. He argues that these individual’s illness
narratives have been overlooked, and by paying attention to them, it will help
others to be empowered to narrate their own illness experience.

Narrative can be characterized as a sequence of events that are meaningful for a

specific audience (Elliott, 2005). Frank (2000), by arguing that stories are more
casual, informal and contingent, whilst narratives are premeditated and structured
He argues that narratives guide us in selecting what to attend to and how to
evaluate our experiences (Frank, 2006). We create our identity and relationships
with others by evaluating common stories in the same way.

This shared evaluation of common stories creates affinity between people to form

56
social or professional groups. Linde offers the concept of coherence systems ‘as
providing the means for understanding, evaluating, and constructing accounts of
experience’ (Linde, 1993). We create the narrative’s meaning only within the
context of a set of beliefs or coherence system. Shared social discourse operates
through individual narratives connecting into a belief system or a hybrid of
common sense and expert knowledge.

Elliott explains that “in the very act of making those causal connections the
narrator invokes the coherence system and indicates the framework within which
he or she is interpreting his or her life” (Elliott, 2005).
Narrative analysis is featured more implicitly than explicitly, but using narratives to
interrogate professional experience is the key to this research work. Reflective
writing is constructed as intra-personal dialogues through its own characteristic
rhetorical and linguistic devices.

They function to make sense of experiences and as a vehicle for experimenting

and testing out identities and strategies. The potential for reflexivity is created
through the split between the narrator and the protagonist, allowing the narrator to
observe and reflect on the protagonist’s performance (Linde, 1993). Within the
reflective framework the practitioner is always in the process of becoming (Johns,
2000), perceived as an evolving and transitory phenomenon.

57
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