Bach Flowers: Foundations
"Take no account of the disease. Just think of the perspective that the afflicted person has of life", these are the words of the physician Edward Bach, an English homeopath, in the introduction of the book he wrote in 1930 to present his method of care.
According to Bach flower lovers, flower remedies have a very subtle effect on mental states and only indirectly affect the body; however, the general change of the person, more or less slow, will be complete.
Definition of flower therapy Bach flowers: the basic principles Bach flower solutions How to use them? Scientific evidence Overview of Bach flower production Mental states according to Bach Rules for treatment with Bach flowers Indications and contraindications Importance of an adequate lifestyle 38 Bach flowers Bach's remedies for categories
Definition of flower therapy
The thirty-eight Bach flowers are gaining an increasingly popular profile in the alternative environments of people caring for themselves. This is partly due to their increasing availability and accessibility in retail stores such as health food stores.
This is especially true for the Rescue Remedy (Emergency Remedy) formula of five flowers, which has become very famous as a delicate, addictive therapeutic substance for the treatment of symptoms resulting from trauma, stress or accident.
In addition to a self-healing use, alternative therapists - such as herbalists, homeopaths, aromatherapists or naturopaths - prescribe Bach flowers as a useful supplement to their therapy.
Bach flowers: the basic principles
Edward Bach implicitly believed in the care of the sick person rather than of the disease: this conviction, together with his intense religious sentiment, spurred him to look for a system of care that took into consideration the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual imbalances that he considered the basis of the onset of the disease.
Speaking of diseases, Bach adopted a rather intransigent viewpoint; these arise from the patient's inability to listen to their intuition and follow a positive instinct. He believed that the human being becomes vulnerable to diseases when an underlying resistance acts as an obstacle to the true development of the personality: this resistance can take the form of emotions such as anxiety, anger or mental rigidity, which could be sufficient to burn the positive potential of a balanced personality.
In common with Samuel Hahnemann (the father of homeopathy), Bach saw the symptoms of the disease from a positive perspective, as they warn us of the need to make changes, such as trying to correct food excesses, detecting deficiencies in lifestyle (such as lack of exercise or relaxation), or avoid habits of negative thoughts that could undermine health. However, Bach went much further than Hahnemann in his interpretation, as he developed a highly symbolic approach to understanding physical symptoms: for example, he saw the stiffness of joints and muscles as a reflection of mental rigidity, while asthmatic symptoms could be interpreted as a suffocation of emotional reactions to a trauma. It is interesting to note that we have here a marked contrast between the approaches of Hahnemann and Bach in the development of a unitary medical system: although both started from very similar basic principles, Hahnemann placed great emphasis on the need for observation of clinical data, verifiable by means of controlled experiments (still today a fundamental element in the clinical experimentation of homeopathic remedies), while Edward Bach was much more attracted by the use of intuition and symbolic interpretation of the symptoms of the disease, making the boundaries between religious experience and the disease treatment.
Bach considered orthodox drug therapy, which temporarily suppressed physical symptoms, without intervening at the root of the problem, very counterproductive: according to him, when constitutional weakness does not receive adequate control, the inevitable result can only be a future evolution towards diseases more series.
Bach believed that the doctor had the role of counselor and assistant, helping the patient to take more and more responsibility for his own health; its flower remedies have a very similar function because, in addition to supporting in times of stress and ill health, they can be used before pathological symptoms appear. In this perspective, Bach flowers represent a form of preventive therapy to be undertaken when on the whole one feels exhausted or out of shape.
Bach Flower Solutions
Chemically, Bach flower solutions are mixtures of brandy and water in a 50:50 proportion . The floral material (called mother tincture) developed by the discoverer Edward Bach is also dispersed within the water fraction. In fact, he claimed that the dew normally deposited on the petals of flowers is able to preserve the healing properties of the plant itself.
Usually, Bach flower solutions are further diluted in water before use. These do not have a characteristic smell or taste due to the considerable dispersion. Actually, the mixing process leads us to deduce that in a single dose little more than a mother tincture molecule can remain; however, the experts of the method affirm that these remedies are effective for the "energetic or vibrational nature" of the original flower, a capacity transmitted accordingly to the consumer.
Not surprisingly, Bach flower solutions are described as " vibrational drugs ", which implies a pseudoscientific concept of the " memory of water " (on the dew of the petals, precisely).
Bach flowers are often labeled as homeopathic, because they are extremely diluted in water; however they DO NOT perfectly follow the concept of homeopathy and do NOT respect the basic principles of this branch as, for example, the "principle of similarity".
Systematic reviews of clinical trials for Bach flower solutions found no efficacy beyond a trivial placebo effect.
For more information about Bach flower solutions, see the dedicated article.
How are they used?
Each flower should be considered as an element with unique and specific characteristics; all Bach flower solutions can be used alone or in combination with others. The method of intake is generally oral.
The solutions can be recommended by a naturopath or a Bach flower expert after an appropriate interview. To choose the right solution, some suppliers recommend a kind of radiesthesia .
The best known product is the "Rescue Remedy" combination, which contains equal parts of Rock Rose, Impatiens, Clematis, Star of Bethlehem and Cherry Plum . The Rescue Remedy is a commercial brand and other companies produce the same formula by calling it with other names such as, for example, "Five Flower Remedy".
The "Rescue Cream" contains the same remedies but with the addition of Crab Apple, a solution of Bach for topical use associated with the improvement of the perception of certain imperfections.
For more information on the various Bach remedies, see the dedicated article.
Scientific Evidence
A systematic review of 2002, which took several randomized clinical studies into consideration, concluded that: " No scientific evidence is appreciated that flower remedies can be associated with concrete outcomes or beyond the placebo effect ".
The mechanism of action of Bach flower therapy, which sometimes seems to benefit the specific case, is probably a synergistic mixture of placebo effect, counseling and suggestion.
However, according to "Cancer Research UK", flower remedies may be able to stimulate the immune system, although: " there is no scientific evidence to show that flower remedies can control, cure or prevent any kind of disease, including cancer ".
Introduction to Bach Flower Production
Edward Bach believed that the dew collected from the flowers of plants could contain some of the properties of the plant and that it was even more effective when collected on flowers grown in the sun. Realizing that it was impractical to collect the dew in large quantities with the original system, he decided to seize the flowers and immerse them in a bowl of water placed under the sunlight. In the event that this was not possible due to the lack of sunlight or otherwise, it proceeded with the boiling of the flowers. Bach called the result of this process "mother tincture", which must be further diluted before the sale and / or use.
Bach described himself as very satisfied with his method, thanks to the simplicity and the possibility of combining the four elements: the earth that nourishes the plants, the air that feeds them, the sun or the fire that allows to impart strength, and the water which heals with its magnetic and beneficial power.
The solutions are distributed with the wording that it is "positive energy capable of redirecting or neutralizing negative energy".
