Baron von Boenninghausen (1785 - 1864) bemoaned the fact that even in his day many homeopaths were ignoring the importance of constitution and aetiology, which is stressed in Aphorism 5, by concentrating only on the symptoms as presented. For this reason he introduced a case taking schemata that included the seven aspects most important to the homeopath when forming a complete case. The Baron's schemata was designed to include all the facets which Hahnemann considered important in case taking and to clarify them.

In his lecture, the Baron used a 12th century hexameter which the theological scholastics had used as a meditation to analyze the deviation of the soul from the path of righteousness. The title of this work is called, "A Contribution to the judgment Concerning the Characteristic Value of Symptoms" and may be found in The Lesser Writings. The verse contains the following seven keyword questions: Quis? Quid? Ubi? Quibus auxilis? Cur? Quomodo? Quando? These seven words mean: who, what, where, with what, why, in what manner, and when?

The Baron felt that these seven questions encompassed all of the essential areas for taking a proper case history. Over the years I have modified Boenninghausen's original sevenfold schemata as I gained more experience with the methodology. Here is the expanded version of the seven areas that should be investigated when collecting information for the case history of a homeopathic client:

The seven areas of the case history

1. Constitution and Temperament. "Who are they?" A."What do they look like?" What is the physical description of their physique, coloring, constitution, age, sex, etc.,
   B. "What is their temperament and sexuality like?" What is their psychological profile?
   C. "What do they do, how do they live?" What is their lifestyle, occupation, living habits, social and domestic relations.
   

2. Aetiology, i.e., Causation and Diseases. "What are they suffering from?" A. Acute diseases, exciting causes, Aphorism 73:
   1. Sporadic. meteoric, telluric or injurious agents.
      
   2. Epidemic; acute miasms.
      
   3. Individual; acute exacerbation of chronic miasms.
      
   B. Chronic diseases, artificial, maintaining, and fundamental causes:
   
   1. Artificial diseases, caused by improper medical treatment, vaccinations, or toxic chemicals and poisons, Aphorism 74.
      
   2. Stress diseases, caused by continual maintaining causes, Aphorism 77.
      
   3. Chronic miasms, Aphorism 78.
   a. Non-venereal; psora, pseudo-psora, cancer.
   b. Venereal; sycosis, syphilis, AIDS.
   c. Vaccinosis.
   d. Inherited and acquired miasms.
   C. Traumatic diseases
   
   1. Physical Injuries
      
   2. Psychological traumas

3. Locations. "Where are the problems?"
   A. Regions, mind, head, abdomen, extremities, etc.
   B. Systems, such a nervous, digestive, glandular, etc.
   C. Extensions or concomitant complaints.

4. Sensations and complaints. "How do the complaints feel and what are their qualities?" A. Burning, coldness, numbness, boring, stitching, tearing, stitching etc.
   B. Sensations "as if", as if floating, as if on fire, etc.
   C. General sensation and symptoms which effect the entire being.

5. Modifications. "What affects the complaints for better or worse?" A. The effects of thermals such cold, heat, dryness, moisture, air, etc.
   B. The effects of circumstances and positions such as motion, pressure, laying, sitting, walking, standing etc.
   C. General modalities which effect the entire constitution.

6. Concomitants. "What other complaints do you have?" A. General symptoms & modalities that affect their entire constitution.
   B. Strange, rare or peculiar symptoms that are not directly related to the regional complaints.
   C. Unrelated symptoms that appear at the same time or in alternations.
   D. Symptom complexes that are related to the chief complaints.
   Time and Progression. "How does the time factor affect this case? When did this start, when did that happen, what came first?". How do the causative factors and signs and symptoms appear in relationship to time and progression?" This is called the time-line. Here the homeopath investigates the chronological order by which the symptoms developed with special emphasis on conception, gestation, birth, infancy, the early years, adolescence, middle age, old age, etc. This gives a clear demarcation of the causative factors and the development of the disease layers.

   A. How do the symptoms relate to time of day, periodicity of their aggravations and ameliorations.
   B. How do the symptoms come and go? Slow onset - slow recovering, fast onset - slow relief, slow onset - sudden relief, etc.
   C. Are there any "Never well since" rubrics? Any ailments from which they have not fully recovered?
   D. What are the acquired or inherited causations in relation to time? What ailments are carried by the maternal and paternal lineage?
   E. How has the aetiological constellation formed the layers of chronic disease? Which layers are active, latent and dormant?

These seven aspects of viewing the case supply the homeopath with all the information necessary to make a proper assessment of each individual case. The critical areas of investigation should include familial illnesses (maternal and paternal lineage), inherited constitutional factors, inherited and acquired miasms, birth traumas, vaccinations, childhood illnesses, serious diseases and hospitalizations, drugs (medicinal and illicit), exposures to toxins, as well as physical injuries and psychological traumas. These are some of the most common factors related to the aetiological constellation.

At the same time special attention should also be paid to the hierarchy of symptoms with emphasis on the aetiology, mental and general rubrics over the particular or local symptoms. After these rubrics have been gathered they must be analyzed to see which symptoms are the most characteristic as well as strange, rare and peculiar as these individualize a person's state. A truly unusual or characteristic particular symptom can outweigh the common mental or general symptom as all these guidelines are relative in nature. This gives the homeopath a clear understanding of the nature of the individual symptomatology.