While conventional medicine primarily addresses the physical aspects of illness, fighting disease or suppressing symptoms, anthroposophic medicine takes a different approach to tackling illness. It is a complementary and holistic approach that focuses on ensuring that the optimum conditions for health are present in a person. Anthroposophic medicine considers a human being as a whole entity - body, mind, soul and individuality. It aims to establish an equilibrium between mind, soul, body and the environment, stimulating the self-healing forces of the body, restoring the balance of bodily functions and strengthening the immune system, rather than relieving the symptoms of disease.

Anthroposophic medicine complements conventional medicine and orthodox medical treatments are employed as necessary.  Specific anthroposophic approaches include anthroposophic medicinal products, massage therapy, art and music therapy, and speech and movement therapies. Different people may receive different treatments even if, according to conventional interpretation, they suffer from the same disease. As with homeopathy, this more complex individual approach meets a growing need for a more personalised way of healing.

Anthroposophic medicinal products consist largely of natural substances from the mineral, plant and animal worlds. These substances are seen as being directly related to the human processes of health, illness and healing through their common evolutional history. Each human process of illness is similar to typical processes in the natural world. Anthroposophic medicine involves bringing insight into the pathological processes in humans and finding the related processes in the natural world. Therapeutic skill consists of bringing the two processes to interaction by means of medication.