Terminologies relevant to Repertory — nineteen words of first year, in plain English

Every subject has its own words. Repertory has more than most. This chapter is where you meet them all at once. The NCH syllabus calls it “Terminologies relevant to Repertory”. It is the third chapter of HomUG-R-I, the code for first-year Repertory and Case Taking.

The sheet lists nineteen terms. That is the whole chapter: a list of words. So think of it as your glossary. Here the terms are sorted into four small groups, so they are easier to hold.

A word of caution first. The syllabus gives the terms, not their definitions. Where a term is simple, we explain it in plain words below. Where it is a technical idea, we only say what kind of idea it is. The exact definitions your exam expects come from your textbook and your teachers.

Group one: the book and its parts

• Repertory. An index of symptoms, with the medicines recorded under each one.
• Rubric. One entry in a repertory. A short heading for a single symptom.
• Gradation. A way of showing that some entries under a rubric carry more weight than others. Repertories mark this with different print styles or grades.
• Cross Reference. A note that sends you from one rubric to a related one somewhere else in the book.
• Synonym. A different word for the same thing. A repertory may list synonyms so you can find a rubric under more than one name.

These five are the everyday words of the subject. Learn them first. You will use them in every practical class.

Group two: using the book

• Repertorization. The process of using a repertory in a systematic way, working through the symptoms of a case.
• Totality of Symptoms. The whole set of a patient’s symptoms, taken together, not one at a time.
• Repertorial Totality. The set of symptoms chosen and arranged so that they can be looked up in a repertory.
• Potential Differential Field. A technical idea about the group of possibilities that remains after repertorization. Your teachers will define it exactly.
• Conceptual Image. Another technical idea, about forming an overall picture of the case. Again, take the exact wording from class.

Notice the pair “Totality of Symptoms” and “Repertorial Totality”. They sound alike, and students often mix them up. The first is the whole picture. The second is the part of it made ready for the repertory. Keep them apart in your notes.

Group three: the case

• Case taking. The careful process of recording a patient’s story and symptoms.
• Analysis of a case. Breaking that record into its parts to understand it.
• Evaluation of a Case. Judging which parts matter more and which matter less.
• Longitudinal case Study. Looking at a case along a line of time — how things began and changed.
• Cross Section Study of a case. Looking at a case as it stands at one point in time.

These five follow a natural order. First you take the case. Then you analyse it. Then you evaluate it. The last two are two ways of looking: across time, or at one moment.

Group four: kinds of repertory

• General Repertory. A repertory that covers the whole person and a wide range of symptoms.
• Regional Repertory. One that focuses on a particular region or part.
• Logico-Utilitarian Repertory. A type named for being built on logic and practical use.
• Puritan Repertory. A type named for keeping closely to its source material.

For the last two, the names hint at the idea but do not explain it fully. The syllabus lists them as terms only. Later years go into repertory types in far more depth. For now, learn the four names and a one-line meaning for each from your textbook.

How this chapter sits in the year

First-year Repertory has five chapters. The first two explain what a repertory is and why it is needed. This third chapter gives you the vocabulary. The fourth and fifth then use that vocabulary, on the layout of Kent’s Repertory and on its links with Anatomy, Physiology and Psychology.

So this chapter is a toolkit. Without these words, the chapters after it are hard to follow.

What to take from it

First, learn the terms in their groups, not as one long list. Four groups of four or five are much easier to remember than nineteen loose words.

Second, practise saying each one in your own words. If you can explain “rubric” or “gradation” to a friend in one sentence, you own it.

Third, respect the limit. Knowing these words is the first step in a long clinical skill. It does not equip anyone to repertorize a real case yet. That comes with years of training and supervised practice.

Where to go next on the platform

This piece sits in the first-year Repertory & Case Taking room. Before it, read “Need and uses of repertory and repertorization” in the same room. After it, “Schematic representation of chapters in Kent’s repertory” puts these words to work. For a gentler overview meant for any reader, the Repertory & Case Taking topic in Homoeopathy Knowledge explains the subject without the exam detail.

The syllabus names these nineteen terms and nothing more. This piece sorts them and explains the simple ones. The precise definitions come from your college, your books and your teachers.