Course Structure
Each Practitioner Diploma course of study consists of a core training in:
- philosophy and principles,
- Materia Medica (remedies), and
- therapeutic applications (clinical).
In turn, this training and study allows the student and aspiring practitioner to achieve competence in the three main areas of Heilkunst:
- Identification of the disease or diseases in the patient – knowledge of disease.
- Identification of the substances that are curative – knowledge of remedies.
- Identification of which substances are specifically curative of a given disease – knowledge of therapeutics.
In addition, there are other units of study, such as anatomy/dynamic physiology that you must also complete. In this regard, you will be learning about basic anatomy (and to a lesser degree about physiology) throughout the process of study more generally. This Module further introduces you to the dynamic physiology of the human organism in a manner that integrates it fully into the actual system of treatment, rendering this process more transparent. It also covers the process of change at the cellular level. Other Modules cover pharmacology (knowledge of drugs), pharmacognosy (knowledge of herbs), lab tests (knowledge of the main conventional and non-invasive lab tests), and drug/herb/ nutrient interactions (knowledge of interactions and nutrient depletion effects).
Study consists of the various Modules taken in the order indicated for the core training in philosophy and principles, Materia Medica and therapeutics. The other Modules related to a given diploma can be taken either during or towards the end of the core training.
There are study exercises supplied for each Module. These are designed to help you study the material assigned in each Module from the textbook, from lectures in audio format and from additional study material. The purpose is to try to express what you have learned in your own words, and to help identify areas for further study or work, if any.