Correlation of Anatomy, Physiology and Psychology with Repertory — the last first-year Repertory chapter

In first year you study three subjects that seem far apart. Anatomy is about the parts of the body. Physiology is about how those parts work. Psychology is about the mind. Then Repertory asks you to join them up. That is the whole job of this chapter.

The NCH syllabus calls it “Correlation of Anatomy, Physiology and Psychology with Repertory”. It is the fifth and last chapter of HomUG-R-I. That is the code for first-year Repertory and Case Taking. The sheet lists four topics under it. Let us go through them one by one.

First, what “correlation” means

To correlate two things is to show how they connect. The first topic is simply an introduction to this idea.

Start with the tool. A repertory is an index of symptoms. Each entry in it is called a rubric. A rubric is a short heading for one symptom, or one part of a symptom.

Now think about where symptoms sit. Some belong to a part of the body. Some belong to how the body works. Some belong to feelings and thinking. So the repertory follows the same three-part map as your other first-year subjects. This chapter asks you to see that map clearly.

Topic two: body parts in Kent’s Repertory

The second topic reads “Chapters and Rubrics related to Anatomical parts in Dr. Kent’s Repertory”. Kent’s Repertory is the book your first-year Repertory is built around. The chapter just before this one on the sheet is all about its layout.

The task is easy to say. Take a part of the body from your Anatomy class. Then find where Kent’s Repertory places it. Which chapter holds it? Which rubrics sit under it?

The syllabus sheet does not print those chapter names here. It names the task, not the answers. Your copy of the repertory and your teachers fill that in. We will not guess at them.

Topic three: body functions in Kent’s Repertory

The third topic does the same for Physiology. It reads “Chapters and Rubrics related to Physiology in Dr. Kent’s Repertory”.

Physiology is about function. How the body breathes, digests, moves and rests. So here you look for the places where the repertory records a change in how something works. Not only where it is, but what it does.

A small habit helps. Each time you learn a process in Physiology, ask one more question. Where would a change in this show up in the repertory? When you find the answer, note it in the margin of your Physiology notes.

Topic four: the Mind chapter

The last topic is the most exact. It reads “Rubrics related to emotions, intellect and memory in Mind chapter of Dr. Kent’s Repertory”. So the syllabus names one chapter outright: Mind.

It also names three areas inside it:

• emotions, meaning feelings.
• intellect, meaning thinking and understanding.
• memory, meaning how we keep and recall things.

This links straight to your Psychology subject, “Fundamentals of Psychology in relation to Homoeopathy”. Two of its chapters point the same way. One is “Understanding Emotion”, which includes emotions and how they show up in the repertory. The other is “Understanding Intellect”, which covers attention and memory, and again their place in the repertory.

So you meet the same ideas twice in one year. In Psychology you learn them as psychology. In Repertory you see how the book writes them down as rubrics. Use each subject to check the other.

How this chapter sits in the year

First-year Repertory has five chapters on the sheet:

1. Introduction to Repertory, Definition and Meaning of Repertory
2. Need and uses of repertory and repertorization
3. Terminologies relevant to Repertory
4. Schematic representation of chapters in Kent’s repertory
5. Correlation of Anatomy, Physiology and Psychology with Repertory

This one comes last, and it leans on the one before it. Chapter four teaches you the list of chapters in Kent’s Repertory and how they are laid out. Chapter five asks you to link that list to the rest of your year. Learn the layout first. The links make sense after that.

What to take from it

Three things are worth keeping.

First, see the repertory as a map of a person. Body parts, body functions, and the mind. That is the idea behind the whole chapter.

Second, do not study your subjects in separate boxes. Anatomy, Physiology and Psychology are not just exam papers. In this chapter they become the way you find your way around a repertory.

Third, know what this chapter is not. It is about finding and understanding rubrics. It is not about choosing a medicine for anyone. That is a clinical skill, taught much later and practised under supervision.

Where to go next on the platform

This piece lives in the first-year Repertory & Case Taking room. If you have not read it yet, start with “Schematic representation of chapters in Kent’s repertory” in the same room, since this chapter builds on it. For the mind side, the first-year Psychology room covers the subject in its own right. For the bigger picture, “Repertory and Case Taking in the First Year” gives an overview of the whole subject.

A note on honesty. The syllabus sheet gives chapter and topic names. It does not give lecture notes or rubric lists. This piece explains what each topic asks, in plain words. The detail comes from your repertory, your college and your teachers.