What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is a therapeutic system. Its principles differ from those of conventional medicine, as does its approach to the patient and to the concept of ill health. However, it cannot replace all other forms of health care. It can be used as the treatment of first choice in a wide range of conditions and can be a useful addition, or "complement" in other situations, for example, to support good recovery after operations.

Homeopathy emphasises the importance of treating individuals as individuals and of understanding the whole person as opposed to only understanding a single "diseased part". The body has many complex health-maintaining defensive mechanisms. The immune system is an essential part of this, but other factors also have a role to play. If these mechanisms fail, then we sustain damage or wounds which then have to be repaired. Homeopathy works by stimulating both the health-maintaining and the repair mechanisms.

Homeopathic medicine was first described by Dr Samuel Hahnemann (1755 - 1843). Hahnemann was a German physician who was dissatisfied with the medical therapies and theories of his day. He made a number of observations. Fristly that the symptoms of an illness were identical to the symptoms experienced by a healthy individual who had been given a drug which could treat that illness. The second observation arose from his desire to minimise the harmful effects of the drugs which doctors were using. He did this by repeatedly diluting and succussing (shaking) each medicine to reduce its potential to poison and cause harm. What surprised him in his use of these preparations was that the more stages of dilution and succussion the drug had gone through, the greater its potential to cure quickly and harmlessly.

This latter observation is still the most controversial one. How can a medicine be more effective in a greater dilution? Indeed, many homeopathic preparations have been subjected to so many stages of this process that it is highly unlikely that any single molecules of the original substance remain. Current research is focusing on the ability of water to retain an imprint of substances which have been dissolved in it. Whatever the mechanism, there is a substantial growing body of evidence that homeopathy works, is safe, effective and cost-effective.

What is a Homeopathy session like?

At your first session your homeopath will spend about half an our finding out about your medical history, lifestyle, emotional life etc. in order to determine what treatment is required. The homeopath will then give you some small tablets to take. Sometimes only one tablet is given and at other times a tablet needs to be taken regularly over a period of time. The tablets are very small and are usually dissolved under the tongue.

What are the benefits of Homeopathy?

Homeopathy can be used to treat a wide range of conditions. It can help to repair any damage which the body has the potential to repair, and help restore the balances and mechanisms involved in recovery and health. It is widely used, for example, in conditions such as asthma, eczema and premenstrual syndrome. Despite the differences in approach, homeopathic and conventional treatments can work very well alongside each other. Consulting a homeopathically-trained conventional doctor allows the individual patient to receive the best of both worlds, with the most effective treatments being tailored just for them.

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