Specific Organotropic Treatment for Cancer Patients

By: Markus Sommer, M.D.
Original title: Gezielte organotrope Therapie des Karzinompatienten. Der Merkurstab 1996; 49:193-206.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14271/DMS-16880-DE
English by A. R. Meuss, HL, MTA.
This translation is published with the kind permission of the journal Der Merkurstab.

JAM Vol. 14(1), Spring 1997

"Organotropism" in medicine

Organotropism means approximately "addressing the organ," an approach that may seem primitive in a holistic treatment designed to consider the individual and his disease at their many levels. Yet the way a human being relates to his organs (Greek organon = tool, instrument) is important. Walther Buehler spoke of the "body as instrument of the soul" in this context. On earth, human beings live in and through their organs, influencing them. The negative aspect of this is reflected in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction, for instance, where lifestyle and inner attitudes are major factors. The diseased organ - in this case the heart - may, in turn, profoundly influence the whole human being, in this particular case precipitating him into mortal fear and a feeling of perdition.

However, we are also able to let healing impulses actively influence our organs - something we know from eurythmy therapy, for instance. The effect of medical treatment of an organ - the liver, for example, with certain types of depression - can also change the whole configuration of a person, who may enter into a new relationship with the world and be able to relate to it more independently than prior to treatment.

It is evident, therefore, that organotropic treatment may be part of the comprehensive approach to treatment that is an indispensable part of anthroposophical medicine. The range of possibilities is large, extending from art therapies to medical treatment. Below, emphasis will be on the latter, above all on treatment with potentized "organ preparations."

Citation: Sommer, M. (1997). Specific Organotropic Treatment for Cancer Patients (A. R. Meuss, Trans.). Journal of Anthroposophic Medicine, 14(1), 54–67.