‘Homeopathic Psychiatry – Understanding The Use And Meaning Of The Delusion Rubrics In Case Analysis’ Author: Liz Lalor

‘Homeopathic Psychiatry – Understanding
The Use And Meaning Of The Delusion
Rubrics In Case Analysis’
Author: Liz Lalor
Book Reviewed by:
 Dr. Firuzi Mehta
 Book price:2700.00

Having completed one reading of all 851
pages of Liz Lalor’s book

 ‘Homeopathic
Psychiatry – Understanding The Use And
Meaning Of The Delusion Rubrics In Case
Analysis’,
I am now wondering how I can
create a concise write-up about this book.
It is not as simple as I thought it would
be, for the simple reason that the book is
more complex than it appears at first
glance. For those who will read the book,
it attempts to bring a deeper
understanding of the Delusion rubrics in
the Mind section of our repertories.
The author, Liz Lalor, has a background
in Psychology and she brings her 30 years
of counselling experience into this
enormous and painstaking work. For too
long, the important Delusion rubrics have
been either neglected from a lack of
understanding or misused by being taken
literally or completely misinterpreted.
The book undertakes a psychoanalytic
study of the meaning and application of
Delusion rubrics in homeopathic case
taking and case analysis. Liz Lalor
emphasises the fact that it is necessary to
properly understand why a constitutional
remedy profile needs the psychological
delusions that it has. With this
understanding, we can recognise the
remedies our patients need with greater
ease. Different remedies have their own
different needs of maintaining a certain
delusion. Once we identify the
psychological behavioural patterning that
is inherent within the remedy profile, this
insight can be used to identify the
Simillimum.
In the beginning of this book, she has laid
down four necessary requirements for
the use of the Delusion rubrics. She
clearly demarcates when the Delusion
rubrics are to be used in comparison with
similar non-delusion Mind rubrics.
A section on Rubric Categories follows,
where she identifies the five stages that a
patient will progress through in case-
taking and then she uses these stages to
group the Delusion rubrics accordingly.
This is an important part of the case
analysis process, because recognising the
psychological stages helps in finding the
Simillimum by narrowing down the
remedies being considered. In explaining
the Delusion rubrics in each different
category, she analyses and describes
numerous remedies, making the Delusion
rubrics come alive for the reader.
The latter part of the book has the Case
Companion to Homeopathic Psychiatry,
where she presents twelve cases from her
practice and takes her readers step-by-
step with her, explaining the process of
identifying the Delusion rubrics and
using them to arrive at the Simillimum.
This book does not make for easy reading
– it requires time and concentration to
process everything that Liz Lalor writes
and for the book’s full impact to be felt.
In fact, I need a second reading and look
forward to whatever new insights a
repeat reading will bring to this complex
subject.
So what has this book brought to me? It
has brought me the realisation of how I
have often neglected the Delusion rubrics.
Reading this book has brought me several
‘VOILA!’ moments where understanding
and clarity have dawned suddenly and I
have identified remedies for some
patients whose cases have seemed stuck. I
can see that correct application of Liz
Lalor’s work will be very helpful in
homeopathic practice.
As regards printing quality, B. Jain
Archibel deserve congratulations. Paper
quality, binding and print are all very
good. It has been a pleasure to read this
book.