Gentle Medicine: The True Causes of Disease, Healing, and Health by Dr Joachim-F. Grätz

Gentle Medicine: The True Causes of Disease, Healing, and Health (2021; Dr Joachim-F. Grätz; (https://www.dr-joachim-f-graetz.de/). Balboa Press www.balboapress.com; 35.00 USD; 6”x 9”; 600pp; isbn: 978-1-9822-5378-3 (ppbk); 978-1-9822-5380-6 (hrdbk); 978-1-9822-5379-0 (e)

‘Hahnemann deserves the merit of saving the spirit of medicine from his century’.–Rudolf Steiner (p. viii).

And in this corner, weighing-in at 1000 g and 600 pages with a height of 9 inches tall, is Dr Grätz's Gentle Medicine, a clinical and methodological heavyweight hailing from Germany!

Joachim-F. Grätz (b. 1963) is a German classical homeopath whose initial homeopathic mentor was Dr Otto Eichelberger (1918–2005) of Munich. Dr Eichelberger was one of the first to take into account the miasms in therapy and who also popularised the use of the Q-potencies in the German speaking world. Grätz, too, attended seminars given by Gerhard Risch (1927–1998), Dr Mohinder Singh Jus (1947–2019), George Vithoulkas, Michael Barthel, Yves LaBorde, Rajan Sankaran and Paul Herscu etc. This varied background provided the author with several different homeopathic perspectives to rely upon. For a period of time, Dr Grätz also served as lecturer in classical homeopathy at various academies of naturopathy in Munich, Salzburg and Vienna, and at Munich's Ludwig Maximilian University.

Dr Grätz's other important source of inspiration came from Ryke Geerd Hamer (1935–2017) and that man's recent contribution, German New Medicine (GNM). See Hamer's opus, Kurzfassung der neuen Medizin, which appeared in 1994 (3rd edition, 2000). Since that time, others have written on this subject, e.g. Dr Katherine Willow's German New Medicine: Experiences in Practice -An Introduction to the Medical Discoveries of Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer (2019; Hamer did not publish any substantive works in the English language). See also the works of Andrea Taddei and Björn Eybl.

Hamer's approach, without going into detail, introduces the five biological laws essential to understanding disease and healing. He came upon his discoveries after the homicidal death of his son, Dirk.

Grätz's tome is essentially a summary of his approach to health and disease while also serving as critique of the dominant health care system which he spearheads in Chapter 1 (40pp), ‘Today's Healthcare system - A Critical Review’. Additionally throughout, he tackles all the various weak points of the conventional medical model in particular vaccination which he does so from the European Union perspective.

Chapter 2 (50pp), ‘The Chronic Laws of Classical Homeopathy’, discusses just that, while Chapter 3 (40pp), ‘General Medical Basics Based on the Laws of Nature’, discusses GNM and Grätz's understanding of it. Then comes Chapter 4 (20pp), ‘Encephalopathy: A Necessary Consequence of Vaccinations’, before the largest chapter of 350 pages, ‘Gentle Medicine: Helping People in the Third Millennium’. It is in this section that he explains his Gentle Medicine methodology which consists of three aspects, classical homeopathy plus GNM plus the heroic or interventionistic aspects of allopathic care. He does not offer a clear or concise explanation of GNM so one must supplement that area with other texts or information gleaned from the internet. He does mention Hamer's 5 biological laws but offers little detail. Biological conflicts and shock experiences and fears are especially important and are a large part of what makes-up GNM yet these aspects as well as left-right handedness, brain manifestations etc. require more of an exploration than the few paragraphs within.

In this 350-page section, he offers many cases with about a third or so containing reportorial cross-table analyses. Nearly all of the cases are discussed at length which allows one to obtain good insights into the author's approach. This chapter consists of 21 sub-chapters each dealing with a particular condition or subject, i.e. neurodermatitis, psoriasis, an autosomal-dominant inherited dermatosis? Tendency to infections, allergies, rheumatism and polyarthritis, mental illness and mood disorders (the case of Selenia is particularly fascinating as it concerns demon possession), Lyme disease, cardiovascular diseases, epilepsy, sciatica syndrome, lumbago, herniated disk etc. Each of these sub-chapters contains cases. In the neurodermatitis sub-chapter, there are five, one of which concerns a 2.5-year-old boy, Linus: it is particularly noteworthy and presented in great length as are the other four.

Chapter 6 (45pp) ‘FAQ - Frequently asked questions: answers and thoughts’, turns out to be worthwhile: there are approximately 20 FAQs. In one, Grätz devotes eight pages to Avian Flu and another concerns the rising popularity in Germany of using amber necklaces to allay difficult dentition in young children. Grätz is decidedly against the practice, offering two cases and a final conclusion: ‘An amber necklace is definitely effective, but can lead to long-term symptoms that result in suppression, at least when worn for a very long time’ (p. 515). Another question concerns the use of bioenergetic methods to test and/or find the indicated remedy of which he offers his conclusion: ‘...this attempt at avoiding the hard work of a skillful, time-consuming chronic medical history harbors a certain danger, since this type of therapy can suppress very easily, more simply, and more often without [one] being aware of it’ (p. 510).

This, Grätz's first book in the English language, is a trove of information but what keeps it from being a treasure is that it suffers from a certain incoherence. Whether or not that is due to poor organisation or an unpolished English language skill, I cannot say.

The author does manage to create a narrative for both the professional and educated lay person alike. There is no index and the bibliography consists of an adequate number of references which unfortunately are almost entirely in the German language. Despite these points, I will comment that the good doctor's effort is worth your while despite not being an unqualified knockout.

‘We should always keep in mind that homeopathy, with its high potency, works in the subtle realm and penetrates very deeply into spheres into which no other healing method can penetrate, so that many things, sometimes even unbelievable ones, can change’.–J.-F. Grätz (p. 460)

Publication History

Article published online:
29 December 2022

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