Homeopathy

Mahatma Gandhi, said of Homeopathy, “It cures a larger percentage of cases than any other method of treatment and is beyond all doubt, safer, more economical and the most complete medical science.”

What is homeopathy?

Homoeopathy is a holistic system of medicine founded by the German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).

It is based on the principle that “like cures like”.

In practice, this means that a medicine capable of producing certain effects when taken by a healthy human being is capable of curing any illness that displays similar effects.
Hahnemann was not the first to postulate such a theory it was Hippocrates (the father of orthodox medicine) who many years before expounded this principle in the words, “Simillia Similibus Curentur” (likes are cured by likes).

Homeopathy is a recognised system of health in many countries, including the UK, India & Germany.

How Does Homeopathy Work?

The practice of Homoeopathy is based on certain fundamental principles:

Like Cures Like

The remedies that are used are tested on human volunteers (provers) to elicit the symptoms they can produce. The symptoms of each remedy experienced by the provers are recorded in exact detail and they form the Homoeopathic materia medica. The symptoms of the patient are matched with the symptoms of the various remedies in the materia medica to find out the single remedy whose symptoms are most similar to those of the patient (like cures like).

Potentisation

Hahnemann’s scientific experiments led him to the process of potentisation.
Potentisation: A step by step dilution and jerking of the drug makes it extremely powerful and at the same time renders it harmless. This is in direct contrast to the toxic drugs of modern medicine, and their “side effects”.

Potencies employed by the homoeopath are from mother tincture to the 1,00,000th potencies. The 6th potency will have roughly a dilution of one drop of the original drug substance diluted in a lake full of water. Each potency is 100 times more dilute than the previous one.

No one has been satisfactorily able to explain how medicines can act when diluted to such fantastic limits, yet potencies are found to act very powerfully. It seems that in the process of potentisation stored up energy of the drug is liberated. This is often an area of contention for the validity of Homeopathy when it is analysed by the orthodox Medical community.

Homeopathy & Your Health

The Homeopath regards the body as more than a sum of its parts. Unlike a machine, it develops, carries on its function and repairs itself independently. In this sense, everyone carries within him his own doctor. Ancient physicians were familiar with this natural power of the organism to control disease and they invented for it a beautiful expression.

“Vis Medicatrix Nature” (Healing power of nature). This healing power is a function of the life force itself. Hahnemann called it the vital force. Therefore disease is a disturbance of this vital force.

Example: Of ten people who get wet in the rain, only one gets pneumonia. Most bacteria can affect us only when our own healing power of resistance is low. By removing the bacteria (by antibiotics, etc.) we are doing nothing to correct this lack of resistance.

Homoeopathic medicine aims to correct the disturbed vital force and thus enhances the power of the body to heal itself.

It does not aim at removing the symptoms of the affected parts, but treats the cause and restores health. According to Homoeopathy, symptoms are a reflection of the disturbed vital force and therefore if the vital force is corrected then the body can come back to health.

Holistic Treatment

Another fundamental principle of Homoeopathy is that it treats the patient as an individual, looking at the entirety of symptoms not just the labelled condition that they come in with. Example: the treatment of two people coming in with arthritis may be completely different even though technically they have the same condition.

The homoeopath takes into consideration all the symptoms that distinguish a person as an individual (family history, personal history, thirst, appetite, sweat, urination, temperament, etc.)

It is being increasingly acknowledged these days that the mind and body are inter linked.

We now see the rapid rise of the holistic concept of disease with an emphasis on its psychosomatic aspect. Hahnemann recognized all this long ago, and stressed that bodily and mental symptoms are to be taken together to form the portrait of disease. The Homoeopathic Materia Medica is rich in mental symptoms and we especially use these in selecting the remedy.

The presenting problem of the patient is not usually an isolated occurrence but rather it is part of a sequence of disturbances/illnesses, etc.  The family history and the events through childhood are taken into account as homoeopathy treats not only the present symptoms, but the entire sequence, thereby preventing the progress of disease. If you look carefully at your own health history & that of your family you may see that there is a distinct pattern. What a Homeopath tries to do is identify this pattern and intervene in the further progression of disease.


In fact most, if not all, curative therapies (including some forms of psychotherapy, meditation, etc.) are based on the ‘Simile’ principle. The Homoeopath applies this principle scientifically and systematically using carefully tested medicines.

Sometimes in the course of Homoeopathic treatment, the history of past illness appears briefly in the reverse order, like a film being played backwards. When this happens, we know that not only the present, but also its cause in the past has been treated and the future is secure.

The Medicines Of Homoeopathy

The process of potentisation brings out the latent medicinal energy in those substances. By virtue of this process anything from sand (Silica) to moon light (Luna) can be used as medicine in Homoeopathy.

The medicines are derived from following sources:

PLANT KINGDOM

Examples:
Chamomilla (Chamomile)
Urtica (Nettle)
Hamamelis (Witch Hazel)
Pulsatilla

MINERAL KINGDOM

Examples:
Alumina
Ferrum Phos (iron)
Natrum-Muriaticum (Common Salt)

HEALTHY TISSUE, IMPONDERABLES & SECRETIONS (SARCODES)

Examples:

Foeliculinum

What can homeopathy treat?

Homeopathy has a wide application, from acute fevers, sore throats and toothache, to chronic illnesses such as arthritis, eczema, asthma, anxiety, mild depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. There has been some very good research evidence to support this.

Homeopathy Links

Dr. Sankaran: Celebrated for the introduction of many new concepts in Homeopathy. His theories are widely recognised as the “Bombay method”.

Homeopathic revolution: A book commenting on the use of Homeopathy by celebrities past & present.