Bach flower remedies
Bach flower remedies are dilutions of flower material developed by Edward Bach, an English physician and homeopath, in the 1930s. His Bach flower remedies are intended primarily for emotional and spiritual conditions, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, insomnia and stress.
Bach flower remedies contain a very small amount of flower material in a 50:50 solution of water and brandy. Because Bach flower remedies are extremely dilute they do not have a characteristic scent or taste of the plant. Vendors claim that Bach flower remedies contain "energetic" nature of the flower and that this can be transmitted to the user. Although Bach flower remedies often are associated with homeopathy, the remedies differ from homeopathy in that they do not follow fundamental homeopathic precepts such as the law of similars or the assumption that curative powers are enhanced by diluting and shaking ("succussion").
Use of Bach flower remedies
Each remedy is used alone or in conjunction with other remedies, and each flower is believed by advocates to impart specific qualities to the remedy. Bach flower remedies are also used on pets and domestic animals with remedies usually taken orally.
Bach flower remedies may be recommended by a naturopath or by a trained practitioner after an interview with a client. An individual may also choose the combination they feel best suits their situation, whilst some vendors recommend dowsing to select a remedy.
The best known of the Bach flower remedies is the Rescue Remedy combination, which contains an equal amount each of Rock rose, Impatiens, Clematis, Star of Bethlehem and Cherry Plum remedies. The product is aimed at treating stress, anxiety, and panic attacks, especially in emergencies. Rescue Remedy is a trademark and other companies produce the same formula under other names, such as Five Flower Remedy.
Rescue Cream contains the same remedies in a cream form, with the addition of Crab Apple, the only one of Bach's remedies meant to work directly on the physical body as well as with the emotions. It is applied externally in response to minor skin problems such as itches, cuts, stings, pimples and burns.
Discovery of Bach flower remedies
Bach thought of illness as the result of "a contradiction between the purposes of the soul and the personality's point of view." This internal war, according to Bach, leads to negative moods and energy blocking, which causes a lack of "harmony," thus leading to physical diseases.
Rather than being based on research using the scientific method, Bach flower remedies were intuitively derived and based on his perceived psychic connections to the plants. If Bach felt a negative emotion, he would hold his hand over different plants, and if one alleviated the emotion, he would ascribe the power to heal that emotional problem to that plant. He believed that early morning sunlight passing through dew-drops on flower petals transferred the healing power of the flower onto the water, so he would collect the dew drops from the plants and preserve the dew with an equal amount of brandy to produce a mother tincture which would be further diluted before use. Later, he found that the amount of dew he could collect was not sufficient, so he would suspend flowers in spring water and allow the sun's rays to pass through them.
Bach advertised his remedies in two daily newspapers, but since his practices did not follow any scientific protocol, and his methods and claims were unproven, the General Medical Council disapproved of his advertising. For example, in his treatise Heal Thyself he wrote:
“Disease will never be cured or eradicated by present materialistic methods, for the simple reason that disease in its origin is not material . . . Disease is in essence the result of conflict between the Soul and Mind and will never be eradicated except by spiritual and mental effort.”
Production of Bach flower remedies
Bach thought that dew collected from the flowers of plants contains some of the properties of the plant, and that it was more potent on flowers grown in the sun. As it was impractical to collect dew in quantity, he decided to pick flowers and steep them in a bowl of water under sunlight. If this was impractical due to lack of sunlight or other reasons, he decided the flowers may be boiled in order to produce the flower remedies.
The result of this process Bach termed the "mother tincture", which is then further diluted before sale or use. Bach was satisfied with the method, because of its simplicity, and because it involved a process of combination of the four elements:
“The earth to nurture the plant, the air from which it feeds, the sun or fire to enable it to impart its power, and water to collect and be enriched with its beneficent magnetic healing.”
Bach flower remedies are not dependent on the theory of succussive dilutions, and are not based on the Law of Similars of Homeopathy. Bach flower remedies, unlike homeopathic remedies, are all derived from non-toxic substances, with the idea that a "positive energy" can redirect or neutralize "negative energy."
Manufacturer information
Several companies around the world produce Bach flower remedies. The British Association of Flower Essence Producers (BAFEP) list at least six companies located on the United Kingdom. It also lists several other essence producers.
Nelsons is a major producer of Bach flower remedies and manufactures and holds the trademark to Rescue Remedy, which is the best known example of Bach flower remedies. They are licensed by the Bach Centre, whose bottling and distribution business was acquired in 1993 by Nelsons. The Bach Centre today is an independent foundation that produces flower tinctures for Nelsons who distribute both Rescue Remedy and Bach Original Flower Remedies to more than 60 countries around the world.
Another Bach flower remedy producer in the UK is Healing Herbs Ltd. In the late 1990s, Nelsons and Healing Herbs' Julian Barnard faced a legal dispute concerning the 'Bach flower remedies' and 'Bach' trademarks. In 1998, the High Court in London decided that 'Bach' and 'Bach flower remedies' are generics and cannot be used in the UK as registered trademarks. This decision was upheld in 1999 by the Court of Appeals, in 2000 in the House of Lords and in Europe by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market in 2008. However, they remain registered trademarks in other European territories.
Effectiveness of Bach flower remedies
All randomised double-blind studies, whether finding for or against Bach flower remedies, have suffered from small cohort sizes but the studies using the best methodology were the ones that found no effect over placebo. The most likely means of action for flower remedies is as placebos, enhanced by introspection on the patient's emotional state, or simply being listened to by the practitioner. The act of selecting and taking a remedy may act as a calming ritual.
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