Julian Barnard of Hereford, England, an authority on flower remedies. states, that flower remedies are different from other forms of medicine and complementary therapies insofar as they do not directly treat a physical condition. There is not a specific remedy for heart disease and then another for eye problems. Practitioners who use flower remedies take little account of the named illness or disease. Rather, they focus on the emotional state by asking, 'How do you feel?' In this way the individual personality is treated rather than the nature of a particular disease.

   This means that flower remedies relate only to specific psychological and emotional states rather than relating to any specific physical manifestations or symptoms. As there is no universal appropriate psychological equivalent for every physical condition, each patient must be diagnosed individually.      Abram Ber, M.D., of Phoenix, Arizona, says, that doctors  rarely prescribe the same remedy, or combination of remedies, for any two people, even if they show the same physical conditions. There is a proverb: Never take medicine which has been prescribed for somebody else. For example, two patients can suffer from chronic headaches, yet for one, fear may be the overriding emotional cause, while for the other, it may be loneliness.

  In his book, The Twelve Healers and Other Remedies, Dr. Bach carefully outlines and describes the various emotional and psychological states and personality traits for which the remedies are used. These descriptions, though stated in simple terms, coincide with and reveal a more complex assessment of underlying discordant patterns.

  Alec Forbes, M.D., Medical Director of the Cancer Help Center in Bristol, England, and a former member of the World Health Organization's Expert Advisory Panel on Traditional Medicine, has used flower remedies for over twenty years. Dr. Forbes states, in addition to personally using flower remedies to help him through many family crises, he has used them in his practice to take hundreds of patients off antidepressants, sedatives, and tranquilizers. He uses flower remedies regularly at the Cancer Help Center and finds them to be most helpful in lessening the emotional and psychological stress many of the cancer patients experience.

  J. Herbert Fill, M.D., a psychiatrist and former New York City Commissioner of Mental Health, uses flower remedies almost exclusively over tranquilizers and psychotropic drugs. He has found flower remedies to have a more profound and long-lasting effect on his patients, free from any side effects. He deals with emotional problems as well as physical ones. In his observations, these remedies appear to work on a much deeper level, apparently assisting the individual in resolving deep-rooted conflict, as opposed to simply relieving the symptoms.

  A specialist in behavioral and drug abuse problems and former Assistant Professor and Chief Resident in Psychiatry at New York University's Bellevue Medical Center, John Bolling,  found essential health improvements in 80 percent of the patients he treated with flower remedies during a recent clinical study. Though other types of treatment were simultaneously used, such as meditation and hypnosis, Dr. Bolling found the most impressive part of the study was the striking improvement shown in the overcoming of blocked emotional patterns by 20 percent of this group, who before the study had been considered resistant to any form of treatment 

  Dr. Bolling states, that clearly Dr. Bach's remedies were the basic factor there. In addition to the marked improvement in their emotional state, these patients became more open and receptive to other treatment modalities which had not been effective before.

  Many of the health professionals have found that flower remedies combine well with their specific treatment therapies. Chiropractic physicians who use flower remedies along with standard chiropractic techniques report that using both methods in conjunction has a greater and more permanent health-improvement effect than using either alone. George Goodheart, D.C., of Detroit, Michigan, the founder of applied kinesiology tells, that he have used the thirty-eight traditional flower remedies over the past number of years with remarkable success. He have found them to alleviate a wide range of emotional problems and emotionally based physical problems. He have seen them disperse worry, anxiety, and negative attitudes, very often in a surprisingly short period of time, infusing a more positive attitude toward recovery.

  Harold Whitcomb, M.D., of Aspen, Colorado, uses electroacupuncture biofeedback testing (a method of testing based on measurement of the electrical properties of acupuncture points) to determine appropriate flower remedies, especially in his treatment program for chronic fatigue syndrome. He finds that deep-seated, buried emotions are usual for people with chronic fatigue syndrome and that the flower remedies help to bring these emotions to the surface and allow them to cure.

  Flower remedies can also be used as an addition to acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. According to Susan Lange, O.M.D., of the Meridian Health Center in Santa Monica, California, as acupuncture treatments open blocked energy channels, stored emotional energy is released. As flower remedies work to balance any negative emotional energy, the two therapies work well together,

 Once Dr. Lange was visited by a forty-year-old man suffering from chronic asthma since age three. The man's long treatment history included prednisone (a steroid hormone with the same effects as cortisone), and inhalants. Dr. Lange learned that the initial outbreak of asthma coincided with the onset of his parent's marital difficulties. His parents fought openly in the home, and his mother eventually committed suicide.

  Dr. Lange performed acupuncture to open blockages in the man's chest and treated him additionally with fuchsia, a flower essence native to America that addresses the repression of deep-seated emotions such as anger and grief. Because the man concealed his suffering behind a cheerful mask, Dr. Lange incorporated Bach's traditional flower remedies elm and agrimony.

  As the energy held in the man's chest released, Dr. Lange treated him for blockage in the solar plexus and administered the flower essence sunflower for issues of self-worth. Finally, he was treated for repressed kidney energy and was given basiland sticky monkey flower essence, and the flower remedy rock rose. Dr. Lange reports,  these remedies addressed his repressed sexual feelings and his fear of intimacy. Within three months the man was able to discontinue all previous medication and was free of asthma.

 Dr. Lange also likes to treat the parents simultaneously  while treating children. She finds that their problems often interconnect. In one case, a mother was experiencing postnatal depression and couldn't relate to her child. Mariposa lily, a flower essence native to America, was given to both the mother and the child to help them with parent/child bonding. The child was also given pink yarrow essence which is used to treat those who overidentify with the emotions of others. Their relationship and  the health  of both mother and child successfully improved. 

  Julian Barnard recalls a nine-year-old girl suffering from repeated migraines who was tense, anxious, and depressed. She was given a treatment bottle containing the flower remedies gentian, water violet, walnut, and Bach's emergency stress formula. Within days her mother reported marked improvements, noting that her daughter had been transformed back to her happy, outgoing self.

  In another instance, a three-year-old child stung on the throat by a bee became frightened and hysterical, screaming in pain. He was given Bach's emergency stress formula directly into his mouth by Barnard, and immediately became calm and quiet. With the stinger removed, Bach's emergency formula cream applied to the skin helped to alleviate inflammation. The entire episode was over in two minutes.

  Dr. Ber says, that  flower remedies are particularly beneficial in helping to relieve acute trauma associated with accidents, bruises, and injuries, as well as grief that would occur following the loss of a loved one. He also believes that using flower remedies can be a tremendous preventative therapy, and that by correcting underlying emotional problems, one can insure that many physical problems will never return.

 

  Dr. Bach's emergency stress formula (the well-known combination remedies) is alternatively called Rescue Remedy, Nature's Rescue, and Five Flower Remedy Combination. It consists of five of the thirty-eight flower remedies and has been in use for over fifty years. The formula has a positive, calming effect in acute emergency situations including bereavement, anxiety, hysteria, and physical trauma or accidents. (The use of this formula should not take the place of emergency medical treatment, though, but should be used as an addition therapy only.) This emergency formula is also available as a cream that can be applied to bruises, bumps, sprains, insect bites, cuts, and burns. It can also be used for tension headaches and muscle stiffness.