38, Bhavani Peth,
Satara-415002
Dr. Pravin Jain,
a young and enthusiastic physician from Predictive school of homoeopathy has
published a well complied and easy-to-reference book on the complex issue of
pediatric prescribing.
Pediatric prescribing is indeed a matter of serious concern for a homoeopath who
is deprived of adequate subjective totality. The importance of ‘observation’ is
hence always underscored. But ‘what’ is to be observed, ‘how’ to
observe and even after observation, how to make it meaningful through
materia medica and reportorial perspectives are the exasperating concerns for a
homoeopathic physician.
This book genuinely tries to give, in a comprehensive manner, all about pediatric prescribing – from case taking to Materia Medica. The author has divided the book into two parts: The first part deals with Introduction, Pediatric case taking, Development, Mind, Reaction to a stimulus and flow chart through 6 chapters. Part II is exclusively kept for Materia Medica.
The author presents ‘Pediatric case taking’ through 25 pages. The ‘portrait’ is erected with the incorporation of following points:
Each point has been eraborated in the successive pages except second point of
complaints. Dr. Jain lists 4 factors viz. vaccination, emotional factors,
physical ailments and medicines that lower the immunity. The ‘constitution’
chapter is one paged and Dr. Jain lists
as points to observe while
determining the physical constitution. Some rubrics of emaciation and
fontanelles wind up constitution. While emphasizing mother’s history during
pregnancy, Dr. Jain gives 13 points viz. external and internal stress factors,
emotional state during pregnancy, relationship with husband and other family
members, attitudes of close friends and relatives, economic status of the
family, not wanting a baby at all, not wanting a baby at that time, strong
desire for child of a given sex, wanting to have a miscarriage or abortion,
scorn for the child and time of unfavourable environmental conditions.
Under ‘Obstetric history.’ Dr. Jain provides Erik Erickson’s psychosocial
stages. The feeding history goes for breast-feeding, its advantages and other
means of feeding. Under the ‘Generals,’ thermals and thirst are given with
teething and some relevant rubrics. In ‘Mind’ section, the author gives a basic
temperamental patterns of behaviour in children of Thomas and chess and evolves
his own grouping based on it and gives a flow-chart for simpler study. The
flow-chart is based on two attributes: Approach and Withdrawal.
Chapter 3 deals with ‘Development’ of infants with all stages and their
characters. Toddlers, pre-school, schooling are elaborately presented. The
chapter 4 of ‘mind’ is based on 3 factors: sociability – Activity –
Destructibility axis and Dr. Jain has toiled hard to give various points to
understand the theme. His approach definitely needs careful assessment and
application. The ‘intellect’ chapter is presented through senses and Howard
Gardner’s multiple theory of 7 types of intelligence are given with their
characters and related reportorial rubrics. This is a useful addition to
indicate pediatric prescribing.
‘Reaction to a stimulus’ is the fifth chapter where Dr. Jain presents through 4
basic emotions: anger, jealousy, grief and fear. Dr. Jain has taken pains to
derive behavioral responses of children expressing these emotions.
Part II is Materia Medica of children and Dr. Jain has given 103 remedies. Each
remedy is presented under following headings: Axis, life-situation, Ailments
from, Mind, Generalities and Indications. To illustrate: Bells axis is Approach
(withdrawal during acute illness) + Hyperactive + Destructive. To understand the
axis one has to refer to flow chart and explanation given by the author. Yet
Approach and Withdrawal being separately presented but hyperactive and
hypoactive being given in both make the reader confused. In the next edition,
author should make this point more clear.
Kudos to Dr. Jain for providing a useful addition to our literature and for
making pediatric prescribing easier while making our vision more wide.