How is it different to other medical methods?
The main difference between anthroposophical and conventional medicine, is that anthroposophical medicine does not only see the illness within the patient, but more than anything, the human being in his/her illness. Diagnostically, the means used and the resulting conclusions may be identical, however, its holistic interpretation will often lead to different recommendations in the treatment and prescribe additional therapies besides those normally used. A medical practice which is based solely on the natural scientific outlook, will limit itself to a purely physical and chemical explanation of the state of the illness. Anthroposophical medicine wants more.
It wishes to include points of view based on the way in which the life, the soul and the spirit of the human being condition him or her according to their own nature, but also individually, and become physically observable.
Growth, regeneration, micro-circulation, day-night rhythm as expression of the forces of life; muscular tension, body language, gesture as expression of the soul; distribution of warmth, posture, uprightness, gait, coordination, speech as expression of the spiritual. In the case of illness, different deviations in the above, certain extremes and one-sidednesses become apparent, which call for additional diagnostic parameters in choosing a suitable treatment.
Anthroposophical medicine also understands the roll patient/illness slightly differently. The patient is, from this point of view, not just an object for the physician’s art, but, as subject, is the equal and partner of the doctor. For no one knows the patient better than she knows herself. Through her illness, she is given the opportunity to perceive, to understand and to once again bring into balance the distorted equilibrium into which her body and soul have fallen, with the help of the prescribed therapies. Chronic illnesses present the opportunity to acquire new patterns of behaviour, resulting in a growth in personal maturity. Anthroposophical doctors support the patient in just this kind of challenge. They underpin her personal feeling of responsibility, recognise his autonomy and foster his right of involvement in deciding the direction that therapy is to take.