Anthroposophic medicine sees itself as an extension or supplement to today’s scientific medicine. It was founded by Dr. Rudolf Steiner (founder of anthroposophy; 1865-1925) in close collaboration with the Dutch physician Dr. Ita Wegman (1876-1943), after anthroposophy had already become fruitful in other fields (e.g., in education with the founding of the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart). Anthroposophical medicine explicitly does not place itself in opposition to scientifically based medicine, but gives points of view to complement the purely scientifically oriented medicine by a spiritual-scientifically expanded view of man. Important dates in the development of anthroposophic medicine:
- 1913 – Foundation of the anthroposophical society.
- 1920 – systematic presentation of a medicine extended by anthroposophy by Rudolf Steiner.
- 1921 – Foundation of the clinical-therapeutic institute in Arlesheim/ Switzerland by Ita Wegman.
- 1923 – Foundation of the general anthroposophical society.
- 1925 – Publication of the book written by Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman “Fundamental for an extension of the art of healing according to spiritual scientific knowledge”.
- 1976 – Anchoring of anthroposophic medicine in the Medicines Act as a “special therapeutic direction”.
- Opening of the Lukasklinik / Arlesheim
- Opening of the non-profit community hospital Herdecke
- Opening of the non-profit community hospital Filderklinik
- Opening of the anthroposophic medical department at the Hamburg Rissen Hospital.
- Opening of the non-profit community hospital Havelhöhe
- Opening of several spa and rehabilitation facilities on an anthroposophic medical basis (eg, Hamborn Castle; Sonneneck Clinic Baden-Weiler; Haus am Stalten, Black Forest).
- 1989 – Anchoring and recognition as a medical direction in the Social Code V.
As anthroposophy (Greek anthropos: man; sophia: wisdom) is a spiritual worldview associated with a spiritual training path. Anthroposophic medicine sees itself as an extension of conventional medicine by taking into account, in addition to the physical being of man, the soul and spiritual being. The main focus is on the concept of holistic treatment of the human being as an individual. In addition, anthroposophic medicine aims to stimulate the self-healing powers of the human being. The understanding of disease can be described as follows: A disease is not only the result of a malfunction on the physical level of the organism, but rather consists of a dynamic imbalance of the body, which can be caused by physical, mental, spiritual, externally acting energetic as well as biographical or karmic circumstances.
Indications (areas of application)
Anthroposophic medicine sees itself as a holistic medicine that can be used to treat a wide variety of disease states. It is used either as a sole therapy or as a complementary therapy, especially to the so-called orthodox medicine, e.g. for allergic diseases, chronic diseases, any kind of inflammatory diseases, skin diseases, psychological and psychosomatic diseases, tumor diseases and many more.The following text gives an overview of the principles and therapeutic possibilities of anthroposophic medicine.
The procedure – elements of anthroposophic medicine
The aim of anthroposophic medicine is not merely to eliminate the symptoms of a disease. The disease process as such is seen as a natural process that has become imbalanced or is occurring in the wrong place or at the wrong time. The disharmony is to be resolved by the patient himself and inserted into the overall dynamic processes of the organism. Anthroposophical therapies are intended to make this possible. The basic prerequisite of an anthroposophic therapy is the doctor-patient relationship, since each patient is treated in a highly individual way. As a rule, a therapy is composed of classical drug treatment and other therapeutic measures:
- Biography work – This therapy is built on the level of consciousness and is based on a reappraisal of the patient’s own biography.The goal is to support the personality to strengthen the organism.
- Eurythmy therapy – movement therapy based on soulful movement of the patient to musical rhythms or rhythms of speech and phonetic forms.
- Hydrotherapy – partial and full baths with additives (eg, lavender, nourishing baths with milk, honey and lemon, mud baths or sulfur baths and more), oil dispersion baths with essential oils, surf bath according to Lieske and Schnabel, overheating baths.
- Artistic therapy – Under the guidance of experienced therapists, patients are encouraged to independently perform creative actions to activate their self-healing powers. Artistic therapies include: Speech therapy, painting therapy, plastic arts and music therapy.
- Drug therapy – In drug therapy, homeopathic preparations are used as well as other pharmaceuticals, but all of natural origin. These include minerals, phytotherapeutics (tinctures, pressed juices) and animal medicines (e.g., derived from slaughtered animals).
- Mistletoe therapy
- Physical therapy – This includes external applications such as: Wraps and compresses, regional rubs, organ rubs (the goal is to affect a specific organ) and salt rubs.
- Rhythmic massage
