So what is homeopathy and how does it work? It’s medicine is a system of medicine that treats physical, mental and emotional conditions. It is a holistic system of medicine which means that specific conditions are focused on as well the the overall health of the person. So a medicine might be given to address IBS but as an integral part of the treatment, the anxiety will also be addressed. Not only that but also general things like if someone tends to feel hot or cold for example. These sort of ‘characteristics’ will help determine the medicine that will most suit the person and help bring about amelioration of their condition.
Homeopathy As A Medicine?
Medicines are made from a wide variety of sources including plants, animals and minerals. Homeopathic pharmacies take the crude substance and process it in a very particular way using serial dilutions and succussions (mixing). This process is found to ‘bring out’ the healing properties of the original substance.
Small doses of medicine are prescribed and only one medicine is given at any time. Medicines are selected for the individual on the basis of the symptomatology presented. A good example is when you cut up an onion and experience watery and stinging eyes. If you have similar symptoms during a case of hay fever, then a homoeopathic preparation of Allium cepa (onion) may be prescribed and this medicine will begin to remove the hay fever symptoms, beginning the healing process. In such an acute condition, the medicine can begin to work in a very short time, abating the hay fever.
What Is Homeopathy & How Does It Work?
As the body of science grows, we are understanding, from a scientific point of view, how homeopathy works. The basis of the approach is to understand what symptoms a certain substance can cause in a healthy person. When this same substance is given to someone with those similar symptoms, then those symptoms in this sick person begin to subside. Samual Hahnemann was the man who so clearly demonstrated and developed this system of medicine. Check out this detailed and interesting account of his life, by by Peter Morrell , A Brief Biography of Samuel Hahnemann
This phenomenon of like cures like, is seen time and time again in case after case and it is this certainty of action that has provided the foundation of homoeopathic prescribing for the last 200 plus years. And it is this certainly that give homeopaths the confidence and assurance that this system of medicine will last long, long into the future as part of medical care in the 21st century and beyond.
Scientific Evidence
Most people acknowledged that for something to be valid, useful or accepted in society, it doesn’t have to be validated by science. Having said that, science certainly contributes to our lives in positive ways and we have benefited form understanding things form a scientific perspective.
We are entering an exciting phase in medicine as now more and more scientific evidence is gathered showing the positive effects of homoeopathic medicine. We can certainly benefit form this new knowledge. For example, it is suspected that some of the action of the small amounts of medicine used in homeopathy can be attributed to a re-shaping of the water molecules found in the medicine. Take a look at this article by Iris Bell, Homeopathy as Systemic Adaptational Nanomedicine: The Nanoparticle-Cross-Adaptation-Sensitization Model.
It’s important to remember that the number of scientific studies done on homeopathy is less than other fields and the main reason for this is the lack of funding by private enterprise, company interests and governments. This is now changing.
Band Classical homoeopathic medicine is partly based on a scientific methodology fulfilling the criteria for something to be considered scientific. More and more research is being carried out today on the efficacy of homoeopathic medicine and although a lot more research is needed, there are certainly many studies that show homoeopathy to be an effective form of treatment. Due partly to the scientific validity of homoeopathy, in various parts of the world homoeopathic medicine has established itself as a viable and commonplace alternative to so-called ‘Western Medicine’. For example in India, England, Switzerland and other parts or Europe, homoeopathic hospitals successfully treat all types of diseases. The World Health Organisation (WHO) report Homoeopathic Medicine as being the most popular medicine used across the world.
History Of Homoeopathy
Samuel Hahnemann (1755) was a chemist and physician in Germany and developed the principles of homoepathy over his lifetime. He was know to be an extremely keen observer – a required quality for any one in science – and as medicine was evolving during that time, he noticed the the like cures like principle at play in a case of malaria.
Like Newton seeing the apple dropping from the tree, Hahnemann observed this healing principle and went on to develop it into a working, effective system of medicine. There is so much more to say regarding the history of homoeopathic medicine, but this is it in a nut shell.
The Consultation
The consultation can range from 5 minutes to an hour of so, depending on what is being treated and the type of treatment. Generally speaking, the initial consultation take the longest as a holistic approach requires that many different aspects of someone’s health are looked into. This may involve mental, emotional and physical issues.
Conditions Treated
Because it is a holistic form of medicine, homoeopathy does not treat a specific condition as such. This system of medicine works because the whole of the person is taken into account and it is form this basis that medicine is prescribed. So we treat someone who has a migraine as opposed to treating the migraine itself.
There are also times that acute prescribing will be ‘more focused’ on a particular set of symptoms and medicine prescribed for that. But even in these conditions, a homeopath will always look at the big picture, the holistic picture and modify the medicine accordingly.
Government & Media
Some governments have strongly resisted homeopathy and it seems in some cases have particularity gone out the way to reduce the practice of it. For example in Australia, Currently (2020) in Australia the National Health and Medical Research Council, is before the ombudsman over claims that it has mis-represented homoeopathic medicine in its report to the Australian Government.
I think all this is negativity towards homeopathy comes down to politics, power, medical bodies and pharmaceutical companies. As a homeopath, my colleagues and I see the positive side to this because with honest and intelligent discussions, we are moving towards a health care system that is beneficial to everyone and will include all types of approaches to health and healing.