Synthesis Repertory 9.1

From the Book

From the Foreword

Synthesis 9 is the first version that is being released in two steps. Synthesis 9.1 has more or less the same content as Synthesis 9.0.

The difference between these two versions is a long awaited, crucial step in the development of the repertory. I have been dreaming about this improvement ever since I became accustomed to my very first Kent's Repertory, which I bought in 1977.

What then is this change?

1. STREAMLINING AND RESTRUCTURING
The change to Synthesis 9.1 addresses a problem well known to deft repertory users: a lot of information is hidden in the subrubrics of the pain descriptions.

Let's clarify this with an example. A patient tells you his pain in the eye is definitely better from rubbing the eye. Synthesis 9.0 offers 7 remedies with this modality in the rubric:

"EYE - PAIN - rubbing - amel.".

The meaningful bit of information here is "rubbing amel.". The experienced repertory user knows that the "eye . pain" section contains other symptoms which include this same modality.

These are hidden as subrubrics of the pain descriptions, as follows:

"EYE - PAIN - burning - rubbing - amel."
"EYE - PAIN - foreign body; as from a - rubbing amel."
"EYE - PAIN - pressing, pressure, etc. - rubbing - amel."
"EYE - PAIN - sand, as from - rubbing - amel."

These four rubrics all contain remedies whose pain in the eye is improved with rubbing. The relevance is that, if we combine these rubrics, we now look at 13 remedies instead of 7! Considering these additional remedies may increase the likelihood of choosing the correct remedy.

How has this issue been addressed in Synthesis 9.1?
In all the symptoms of the pain sections, the description of pain was always on level 3 ("eye .pain . burning - morning"). In Synthesis 9.1 this description has been moved to the last level of the symptom. The above symptoms therefore became:

"EYE - PAIN - rubbing - amel. . burning"
"EYE - PAIN - rubbing - amel. - foreign body; as from a"
"EYE - PAIN - rubbing - amel. - pressing pain"
"EYE - PAIN - rubbing - amel. - sand; as from"

This restructuring increases the number of remedy choices for thousands of modalities, sides, times, extensions and localizations. These hidden symptoms and their remedies were hardly ever looked at before. Now it has become very easy to consider this information when necessary.

In addition, the remedies of these symptoms expressing the same side, time, modality, extension or localization have been copied to the common superrubric.

Reverting to the example above, this means that "EYE - PAIN - rubbing - amel." has 13 remedies in Synthesis 9.1 (instead of 7 in Synthesis 9.0). For each remedy the source rubric has been indicated.

In order to achieve this drastic change, it had to be preceded by another step: a thorough streamlining of all symptoms. Here is the explanation why:

The modality "cold air agg." is expressed in several ways at different places in the Repertory. For example, in Synthesis 9.0:

HEAD - PAIN - cutting - cold - air agg.
HEAD - PAIN - tearing - air - cold; from
 

If we restructure this information, these rubrics would become:

HEAD - PAIN - cold - air agg. - cutting
HEAD - PAIN - air - cold; from - tearing

This would result in a cluttered pattern of rubrics with identical meanings, expressed in different ways. Therefore, we have streamlined the modality "cold air agg." throughout the Repertory into "cold - air - agg." before undertaking the restructuring.

In Synthesis 9.1 the above rubrics have become:

HEAD - PAIN - cold - air - agg. - cutting
HEAD - PAIN - cold - air - agg. - tearing

As a consequence of this streamlining and restructuring process, some familiar rubrics may have undergone some changes.

First of all, the symptom level expressing the description of pain has been moved. There is only one thing to remember in order to find the new symptom location: move the "description of pain" to the last level of the symptom and you will find the symptom in Synthesis 9.1.

This applies only to pain symptoms that contain a "description of pain" (e.g. burning, cramping, tearing, etc.). Some examples:

Synthesis 9.0		Synthesis 9.1
HEAD - PAIN - stitching - evening		HEAD - PAIN - evening - stitching
HEAD - PAIN - stitching - coughing, when		HEAD - PAIN - coughing, when - stitching
HEAD - PAIN - stitching - Forehead - extending to - Occiput		HEAD - PAIN - Forehead - extending to - Occiput . stitching
HEAD - PAIN - stitching - Temples		HEAD - PAIN - Temples - stitching

Second, the streamlining may have moved a familiar rubric to a different place altogether, even considering the first explanation above. You look for a symptom modified with "air . cold", and in fact in Synthesis 9.1 you will find it under "cold . air" not under the letter "a"(ir), but under "c"(old).

It may take some time to adjust to the new streamlined modalities and locations. The advantage is that this streamlining is now consistent throughout the repertory. Previously this was not the case.

In Synthesis 9.0 and prior versions there were 36 ways to express "cold air agg."!

Now either "cold . air . agg." or the collapsed form "cold air agg." is used. And that's it.

This simplifies the search for rubrics in the repertory from now on.

For the complete text of this Foreword, please
visit the Homeopathy Software section.

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Details

This new Synthesis Repertory is a revolutionary work, integrating a vast array of information. This is the culmination of 17 years of work from the different currents of the homeopathic community.

-- Numbers at a glance --

Remedy Occurrences: 1,066,987
-- 23% more than Synthesis 8

Author References: 1,773,453
-- 65% more than Synthesis 8

Number of remedies described: 2,373
-- 1,698 more than Kent

With Synthesis 9 you now get:

1. Access to Boenninghausen and Boger
The complete content of all the main Boenninghausen and Boger Repertories has been seamlessly integrated.

2. Complete Sources Integrated
The complete content of Oscar Boericke's Repertory, Phatak's Concise Repertory, and all the symptoms from Julian's Nosodes are now integrated.

3. New and Updated Remedies
Additions from the clinical experience and provings of contemporary homeopaths have been added, including Farokh Master, Andre Saine, Jeremy Sherr and many others.

4. More Efficient Access
The 'Mind' chapter and all 'pain' rubrics were thoroughly analyzed and the remedies were copied, where appropriate, into the superrubrics.

5. The Source Repertory
All new additions are traced back to the original source. Over 100,000 hours of research work in the original languages guarantees the accuracy and reliability of the information.

6. Easy To Use
A standardized and simplified repertory structure:

• Streamlining: the symptoms are presented in a standardized way, strictly following coherent and universal rules.
   
• Restructuring: the Repertory structure has been simplified and reorganized. Related information is brought together by moving the 'descriptions of pain' to the last level - uncovering information that was previously hidden or dispersed.

With the Repertory is a CD is that includes:

• Information about the structure and language of the Repertory, e.g. explanations of more than 1,150 key symptoms
   
• Searchable remedy and author catalogues
   
• Extensive information about families, relationships of remedies and where to get new remedies.

This CD also includes the Companion to Synthesis, which assists you in finding information in Synthesis more easily:

• By listing rubrics with similar meanings or themes, the Concepts part of the CD increases the possibility of finding associated symptoms in Synthesis
   
• A searchable word index (more than 5,000 words indexed)

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Heritage

Derived from the RADAR computer program, contains many additions to Kent's Repertory on which it is based.

From:
The Heritage of Homoeopathic Literature
copyright 2001 by Julian Winston
Reprinted with the permission of the author

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Author

Frederik Schroyens, MD

(1953 -     )

Dr. Frederik Schroyens was born January 12, 1953 in Mechelen, Belgium.
He can be reached at 31 Muinklaan, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
His email address is Frederik.Schroyens@archibel.com

Dr. Schroyens is a 1977 medical graduate of the State University of Gent (Belgium) and a 1978 graduate of the one-year Homeopathic Training Course at the Faculty for Homeopathy in London (MFHom).

In 1981 Dr. Schroyens was the constitutive President of VSU, the largest Homeopathic School in Belgium. VSU provided a one-year introductory homeopathic training to more than 1,000 students and fully trained over 150 homeopaths. The homeopathic education was built up over a five-year program. Dr. Schroyens also founded the Masi-workshops in Belgium and Holland.

Dr. Schroyens was one of the first Radar users in 1986 and became enthusiastic about the increasing possibilities computer science offered to Homeopathy. Because of his dedication to the program, he became the Homeopathic Coordinator of the Radar Project.

In 1987 he was appointed as the main link between George Vithoulkas and the programming team of the University of Namur (Belgium) during the development of the Vithoulkas Expert System. He has accompanied George Vithoulkas on many of his seminars since 1988 and has assisted him on many of his consultations.

Dr. Schroyens published an introduction to homeopathy in 1984 in Dutch, which has been translated into French and Portuguese. In 1993 he edited a printed version of "Synthesis", the expanded Repertory linked to the Radar project.

A computer version of Synthesis exists in seven languages. This Repertory has also been printed in German, English, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Translations into various other languages are ongoing.

Since 1995, Dr. Schroyens has published several books based on Synthesis such as "1001 Small Remedies" and "Arzneimittelbilder von Gemüt und Traume".

Dr. Schroyens lectures on the Radar project and homeopathy in Europe as well as in North and South America.

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Reviews

"Synthesis 9.1...great work! I'm really impressed with the way that Synthesis is continually evolving and has become such an indispensable tool."
Will Taylor, MD
Chair, Homeopathy Department
National College of Naturopathic Medicine

"The repertory is our daily tool; it is our right arm. It must be sharp and accurate, all encompassing but not over-inflated. I found Synthesis 9.1 to be all these things, and the tool felt right in the hand. In an age where data quality is extremely variable, we need new techniques of differentiation.

"By restructuring sensations and location Frederik Schroyens has created a more efficient tool. By including remedies from subrubrics into their 'mother rubrics' we have been given the choice of a larger and more accurate remedy data base."
Jeremy Sherr
Director
Dynamis School for Advanced Homeopathic Studies

"Synthesis is a magnificent work in all respects! I am so excited I can barely contain myself! In every way it is superb. I cannot express to you how personally grateful I am that you, Frederik, have done such a monumental piece of work. For homeopaths like me, who do not particularly like computers, and who like to touch and feel pages, this is a godsend.""
Karl Robinson, MD
Homeopathic Educator

"Congratulations on Synthesis. It is truly a magnificent book - a great achievement. It occupies a place in my office and is in constant use. Synthesis will benefit the homeopathic community. Thank you for your work."
Paul Herscu, ND, DHANP
Director, New England School of Homeopathy
Editor, New England Journal of Homeopathy

"Over the last several years most of my cases have been decided upon after using successive computerized versions of Synthesis. I was greatly surprised when I was shown the incredible amount of corrections to the symptoms and to the structure of the repertory that was carried out. Synthesis will set a new standard. Synthesis is also the only place that contains my official Repertory additions."
George Vithoulkas
International Academy of Classical Homeopathy

"SSynthesis really reflects a commitment to quality. It should be in the possession of every homeopath and student. The earlier it is introduced to the student, the more familiarity and ease of use she will have with it by the time of graduation."
George Dimitriadis
Burwood Homeopathic Medicine Centre, Sydney
Editor, Australian Journal of Homeopathic Medicine

"The day Synthesis arrived in my office, I put Kent's Repertory into storage and have not once considered retrieving it. After using Synthesis for several months, I wonder how I survived without it. I want a good repertory with additions, a repertory that is easy to use, following the logical scheme of Kent's Repertory. I have found this in Synthesis. I believe every homeopath would benefit from having this book. Synthesis is a great contribution to homeopathy."
Durr Elmore
National College of Naturopathic Medicne
Portland, OR

"Synthesis is a superb book! I have started to use it and find that the printing standard is excellent and it seems extremely easy to use. I hope that it achieves the status of 'best-seller' as it deserves to."
Barry Rose
Executive Dean
Royal London Homeopathic Hospital

"When I began to use Radar in my homeopathic practice I realized the enormous amount of work that was done. Since then Synthesis has grown with a concern for accuracy never seen before. Now all this work is available in one book which everybody can consult and use!"
Corrado G. Bruno
Past President of the National Homeopathic Association of Brazil
Teacher at the School of the Paulista Association of Homeopathy

"(Synthesis) builds upon the traditional work of J. T. Kent, but leaves it far behind regarding content. Synthesis reaches a qualitative standard, which was rendered possible only by the use of the most advanced computer technology."
Fred Dellmour
in "Book Review of Synthesis" (translated from the German)
Homoeopathie in Oesterreich

"My transition to Synthesis was abrupt but painless. On the day Synthesis arrived at my office, I put away my old Kent's Repertory and that was that. I've been using Synthesis exclusively and I haven't looked back."
Paul Mittman
Book Review
New England Journal of Homeopathy

"The present work is without any doubt the most complete, the most modern and the most user-friendly Repertory available today: whoever considers procuring himself such a work, cannot walk by Synthesis."
Michael Terlinden
in Archiv für Homoeopathik

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