Lac Remedies in Practice

Review

This book review is reprinted from Volume 105, Number 2, Year 2012 edition of the American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine

Reviwed By George Guess, MD, DHt

In Lac Remedies in Practice Phillip Bailey has penned a most useful and enlightening discourse on the psychological characteristics of eight prominent Milk remedies. The portraits he paints, based upon his own clinical experience, are vivid, thorough, readily comprehensible, and discerning.

He begins this work with a description of the common themes representative of the Lac remedies, an exercise I found most useful in developing a cohesive grasp of the basic indications for these remedies. Without this underpinning, recognition of a Lac patient seems far less certain. (Farokh Master in his book Lacs in Homeopathy also provided his take on common Lac themes, several of which converge with Dr. Bailey's assertions.) A brief rendering of these themes includes: "Missing Foundation" (a consequence of faulty bonding with the mother), "Ambivalence" (with regard to connection to others -a product of past inconsistent results when attempting to connect with the mother), "Paradise Lost" (a figurative withdrawal back into the comfort of the womb leading to either drag addiction or spiritual pursuits and spaciness), "Alone and Co-dependent" ( an alone, isolated feeling accompanying them through life, as well as a pattern of co-dependency in relationships, tending to care and feel responsible for others while being unable to care for themselves), "Mother-Child" (referring to the common dysfunctional mother-child relationship seen in these remedies, the mother either being unable to bond with the child or being inappropriately needy, seeking support from the child that she never received previously), "Where is the Man?" (single mothers are frequently Lac patients, since the woman, in various ways, often sabotages her relationship with men), "Victim Consciousness" (in that they often feel a helpless victim, with consequent indignation), "Unsupported" (by their parents, friends, coworkers, partner; estrangement from their birth family is a common consequence), "Community Awareness and Advocacy" (community replacing their sense of family connectedness; a strong sensitivity to injustice is seen), "Rebel with a Cause" (rebellion being a defensive posture, against parents, authority; activism is common), "Push and Pull" (in relationships their tendency is to either be wary and hesitant or to impulsively submerge themselves, becoming clingy), "Boundaries" (given the above, it comes as no surprise that many Lac patients display weak personal boundaries, with consequent empathy and co-dependency).

Dr. Bailey then proceeds to develop the themes and qualities that distinguish each of the eight Milks covered in the book - Lac humanum, Lac felinum, Lac equis, Lac canium, Lac leoninum, Lac defloration, Lac lupinum and Lac delphinum. Why only eight? Because those are the Milk remedies that he has had experience with, enough experience to confidently offer his observations. The book is not a dry academic study, but one that convincingly breathes life into these remedies. Each chapter ends with a few case studies, illustrating the remedy's clinical presentation. Quite often Dr. Bailey provides interesting differential diagnostic points between some of these remedies as well as some comparisons to some non-milk remedies. A few cases in point...

"Like Phosphorus and Medorrhinum, Lac felinum men have an adolescent quality, which is lively, adventurous and individualistic. Unlike Medorrhinum men, they feel torn between their 'animal' and 'higher' nature, and they also appear more self-absorbed, and tend to worry more."

"Lac humanum and Lac equis are Lac constitutions that exhibit self-confidence and assertiveness, Like Lac felinum. All three can appear overpowering, although Lac felinum is least likely to do so, and most likely to appear nervous."

"Lac equis tends to appear more intense than Lac felinum. In this respect, it resembles Lac humanum. Lac equis tends also to be more intellectual and more refined than Lac felinum, and also more proud. Lac equis is far more prone to mania, and also to dreaminess."

"Lac leoninum women are powerful women. . . The power that the Lac leoninum woman enjoys is often at the expense of femininity. Ambitious women who like to feel in control and who intimidate men will often respond constitutionally to either Ignatia or Lac leoninum."

The author's most significant omission is the physical characteristics and pathology that he has confirmed or discovered in the clinic. A treatment of that aspect of each of these remedies in a subsequent edition would be most welcome.

The book is hardbound, the typeface easily readable, and it is attractively covered with a photo of dolphins. In all, I found Lac Remedies in Practice an indispensable source of important information about the psychological characteristics of several Milk remedies, as such it is a most worthy companion and supplement to the more extensive but less psychologically informative The Lacs: A Materia Medica and Repertory by Patricia Hatherly (see preceding review).

This book review is reprinted from Volume 25, Number 3, Year 2012 edition of the Homoeopathic Links - International Journal for Classical Homeopathy

Reviewed by Peter Fraser

This is an interesting study of eight of the Lac remedies. It is seen from a clinical perspective and is written from the perspective of psychology and psychotherapy. Bailey acknowledges the provings that have been done over the last fifteen years but he does not really take them into account in his studies. The materia medica references he does make are very general and usually to rubrics in the repertory which fail to give the characteristic nature of the symptoms. The differential diagnoses are also very general which makes them less useful than they could be.

The approach that Bailey uses, based on his clinical experience and particularly on psychotherapy, leads to an emphasis on the story and the origins of the patient's condition rather than the particular and characteristic nature of the disease state. There are many ways that patients come to any disease state and a set of experiences can lead to many different disease states. The story of the experience of Lacs and particularly Lac humanum is the experience of mammals and of humanity in general and this is what Bailey describes. The end result can be any of the disease states humans are susceptible to. The disease state and the remedy picture that it matches is a self-contained whole and it can be reached in many ways that differ substantially from the stories that Bailey tells. The book thus gives a lovely idea of one version of what might be involved in a Lac state but does not describe the wider picture or even intimate that there might be a wider picture.

The Lac remedies are particularly prone to this narrow view. The mammals are defined by the fact they have mammae and nurture their young with milk. Out of this rose the convention of creating remedies from mammals using their milks. However, the remedy is of species of animal and not just the milk. There have been some experiments, for example, doing simultaneous provings of mare's milk and a stallion's hair, which appear to confirm this wider context. We would never look at Bird remedies as defined entirely by what a feather is (by convention, the part that is used to make the remedies). Bailey begins to explore some of the species features of the remedies but does not take it very far. The book is not as well edited as it could be. The cases, except Lac lupinum are all of women and yet the default pronouns are often masculine. Discussing the mother -daughter relationship and then using "he" and "his" is, at the least, disconcerting. The naming of the remedies is inconsistent. The convention is to use the adjectival form of the species: Lac caninum (milk pertaining to dogs) rather than the genitive, which would be Lac amis (milk of the dog). Bailey uses different forms at different times, even for the same remedy. The need to be aware of conventions may seem petty; however, the conventions help us to understand the nature of a group of remedies and any carelessness leads easily to wider confusion.

This is a very enjoyable book and an excellent introduction to the mammals even if, like milk, it is not overly solid.

This book review is reprinted with the permission from the Autumn 2011 Edition of The Homeopath.

Reviewed by Jean Duckworth

Philip Bailey is perhaps best known for his book 'Homeopathic Psychology' a book I have greatly enjoyed over the years since its publication. For me Philip Baileys' books are ones that I dip in and out of if I want to 'see' a clinicians perspective of a remedy and this is no exception. There has been a great deal of interest over recent years in the Lac's as remedies and a number of books have been published including those by Nancy Herrick, Sankaran and Links. It might be asked if we need another one, my answer would be yes, when it comes in the form of Lac Remedies in Practice.

Lac Remedies in Practice opens with a very useful chapter outlining the main themes of the Lacs particularly around bonding difficulties between mother and baby and the long term sequelae that can arise from these problems. Interestingly, Bailey states that Lac remedies run in families and are genetically inherited, and he then goes on to develop these themes within the 8 Lac remedies presented, one per chapter (Lac humanum, Lac felinum, Lac equis, Lac caninum, Lac defloratum, Lac leoninum, Lac delphinium. Lac lupinum). The Links book on Lac's does contain more remedies, but the way that Bailey crafts his material taken from provings (conventional and dream), materia medica (his own) and his own experience makes it for me a more exciting, readable book. The book contains rich descriptions about the remedies and also provides clear differentiations from other remedies and what is important for me, shows his analysis and reasoning for the prescriptions. Bailey appears to use LM potencies for most of his prescriptions in this book and I would have liked to explore whether this is just an extension of his normal practice or whether it is something that he finds particularly effective with either this group of patients or remedies.

The book itself is hard backed and just slightly bigger than A5, covers 220 pages and has a comprehensive index of themes. This book will stay as a useful addition to my library.