7.1 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthroposophic medicine | 1/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophic_medicine | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:16:53.536351+00:00 | kb-cron |
Anthroposophic medicine (or anthroposophical medicine) is a form of alternative medicine based on pseudoscientific and occult notions. Devised in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) in conjunction with Ita Wegman (1876–1943), anthroposophical medicine draws on Steiner's spiritual philosophy, which he called anthroposophy. Practitioners employ a variety of treatment techniques based upon anthroposophic precepts, including massage, exercise, counselling, and administration of substances. Many drug preparations used in anthroposophic medicine are ultra-diluted, similar to those used in homeopathy. Homeopathic remedies are not medically effective and are generally considered harmless, except when used as a substitute for a scientifically proven and effective prevention and cure. In certain European countries, people with cancer are sometimes prescribed remedies made from specially harvested mistletoe, although no evidence of clinical benefit exists. Some anthroposophic doctors oppose childhood vaccination, and this has led to preventable outbreaks of disease. Anthroposophic medicine departs from fundamental biological, physical, and chemical principles in several respects. For example, Steiner said that the heart is not a pump, but that the blood, in a sense, pumps itself. Anthroposophic medicine also proposes that patients' past lives may influence their illness and that the course of an illness is subject to karmic destiny. Professor of complementary medicine Edzard Ernst and other physicians and scientists including Simon Singh and David Gorski have characterized anthroposophic medicine as pseudoscientific quackery, with no basis in reason or logic.
== Background ==
=== History ===
According to Egil Asprem, "Steiner's teachings had a clear authoritarian ring, and developed a rather crass polemic against 'materialism', 'liberalism', and cultural 'degeneration'. [...] For example, anthroposophical medicine was developed to contrast with the 'materialistic' (and hence 'degenerate') medicine of the establishment." According to anthroposophy, mainstream medical science is "Ahrimanic". The first steps toward an anthroposophic approach to medicine were taken before 1920, when homeopathic physicians and pharmacists began working with Steiner, who recommended a new form of pharmacy, Anthroposophic Pharmacy, along with specific preparation methods and an anthroposophic concept of humankind. In 1921, Ita Wegman opened the first anthroposophic medical clinic, now known as the Klinik Arlesheim, in Arlesheim, Switzerland. Wegman was soon joined by several other clinicians, who trained the first anthroposophic nurses for the clinic. At Wegman's request, Steiner regularly visited the clinic and suggested treatment regimes for particular patients. Between 1920 and 1925, he also gave several series of medical lectures. In 1925, Wegman and Steiner wrote the first book on the anthroposophic approach to medicine, Fundamentals of Therapy. Wegman later opened a separate clinic and curative home in Ascona. Wegman lectured widely, visiting the Netherlands and England particularly frequently, and an increasing number of physicians began to include the anthroposophic approach in their practices. The Lukas Clinic, a cancer clinic, opened in Arlesheim in 1963. In 1976, anthroposophic medicine in Germany was regulated by law as a specific therapeutic system (Besondere Therapierichtung) under the Medicines Act and the Social Law Code V. In the 1990s, the Witten/Herdecke University in Germany established a chair in anthroposophical medicine. The press described the appointment as a "death sentence," and the perception that pseudoscience was being taught damaged the university's reputation, bringing it to the brink of financial collapse. A cash injection ultimately saved it from Software AG, a technology corporation with a history of funding anthroposophic projects. In 2012, the University of Aberdeen considered establishing a chair in holistic health jointly funded by Software AG and the Anthroposophic Health, Education, and Social Care Movement, each of which would provide £1.5 million of endowment. Edzard Ernst commented, "that any decent university should even consider an anthroposophical medicine unit seems incomprehensible. The fact that it would be backed by people who have a financial interest in this bogus approach makes it even worse." The university's governance and nominations committee eventually decided not to proceed with the appointment. Joseph A. Schwarcz (2022) regards Steiner as a quack.
=== Categorization and conceptual basis === The categorization of anthroposophical medicine is complex because it both complements and substitutes conventional medicine. In 2008, Ernst wrote that it was being promoted as an "extension to conventional medicine". Ernst writes that Steiner used imagination and insight as a basis for his ideas, drawing on mystical knowledge from the occult Akashic Records, a work supposedly situated on the astral plane, which Steiner said he could access via his intuitive powers. On this basis, Steiner proposed "associations between four postulated dimensions of the human body (physical body, etheric body, astral body, and ego), plants, minerals, and the cosmos". Steiner also proposed a connection betweens planets, metals and organs so that, for example, the planet Mercury, the element mercury and the lung were all somehow associated. These propositions form the basis of anthroposophical medicine. Ernst has said that anthroposophical medicine "includes some of the least plausible theories one could possibly imagine", categorized it as "pure quackery", and said that it "has no basis in science". According to Quackwatch, anthroposophical medicine practitioners regard illness as a "rite of passage" necessary to purge spiritual impurities carried over from past lives, according to the precepts of "karmic destiny". The French governmental anti-cult agency MIVILUDES reported in 2022 that it remains vigilant about anthroposophy, especially because of its deviant medical applications and its work with underage persons. According to Ernst, "Anthroposophic medicine is based on several bizarre assumptions". Steiner seems to have been right about the role of diet in health maintenance, although his assumptions were erroneous.
== Methods ==
In anthroposophic pharmacy, drugs are prepared according to notions of alchemy and homeopathy rather than the science underlying modern pharmacology. During the preparation process, patterns formed by crystallization are interpreted to see which "etheric force" they most closely resemble. Most anthroposophic preparations are highly diluted, akin to homeopathic remedies. This means that, while they are completely harmless in themselves, using them in place of conventional medicine to treat serious illness carries a risk of severe adverse consequences. As well as drug remedies, anthroposophical medicine also includes: