‘Those who merely study and treat the effects of disease are like those who imagine that they can drive away the winter by brushing the snow from the door. It is not the snow that causes winter, but the winter that causes the snow.’

Paracelsus, 16th Century philosopher and physician

It was just over 200 years ago that Samuel Hahneman – a German physician, chemist and linguist – discovered a different approach to the cure of the sick, which he called homœopathy. The word is derived from the Greek for ‘similar suffering,’ and it refers to the central defining law of homœopathy as a system of medicine, Like Cures Like. A homœopath seeks to find a medicine that, in its crude form, would bring about, in a healthy person, the same kind of symptoms that the sick person has. This medicine, which has been prepared in a very dilute and very safe form, acts to stimulate the body’s natural mechanism of healing and balance.

How does Homœopathy work?

As the quotation from Paracelsus suggests, homœopathy seeks to deal with the fundamental cause of illness. Homœopathy considers illness in the context of what it is to be a living organism. A living organism, such as a human person, is a complex system that maintains its integrity through the various challenges that it confronts. The organism responds to such challenges by adapting itself – its own sense of balance – to best suit the situation.

The body responds to a cut by setting healing mechanisms in motion. An athlete’s body responds to physical strain on the muscles by rebuilding and strengthening those very muscles that are challenged. These are both examples of the human organism doing what is in its nature to do – finding the best way it can to deal with and adapt to changes while keeping itself together as a functioning whole – and these are examples of the human organism doing so, successfully. Homœopathy views illness as the body’s failure to adapt optimally to the challenges that have confronted it. The symptoms of illness are signs of this failure. By ascertaining the pattern of the symptoms that the sick individual exhibits in such situations, the homœopath can tailor a medicine to fit the pattern of response that the body needs help with. That medicine, which in its crude form would cause the kind of symptoms present, will now, in its homœopathically prepared form, act as a stimulus toward their resolution. In this way, homœopathy works with the organism by stimulating the very mechanisms responsible for it maintaining itself.

Homœopathy versus vaccination

Although there is a broad similarity, homœopathy is NOT vaccination. On the one hand, homœopathic medicines are extremely dilute so that no diseased substance or chemical is introduced to the body. On the other hand, homœopathy does not just focus on immune response as vaccination theory does; it focuses on the response of the whole organism and its quite multifarious array of mechanisms of defence, balance and repair.

What happens in a Homœopathic consultation?

Since the homœopathic medicine acts as a stimulus for the body to respond to the complaint peculiar to it, the homœopath needs to find out to what stimulus the individual would be most sensitive. A homœopathic consultation involves exploration of many aspects of the individual including the symptoms of the specific complaint, other previous illnesses, general energy levels, how that individual’s body reacts to various situations or conditions (temperature, climate, foods, stress) and so on. A first consultation is therefore longer – usually one to one and a half hours – than subsequent ones; the homœopath is attempting to ascertain a pattern that will indicate a remedy to which the patient is most likely to be sensitive.

Homœopathy versus conventional medicine

Homœopathic medicine has a different basis from conventional medicine. The life-saving role played by the latter should not be forgotten but, as well as offering a powerful alternative for the treatment of many acute ailments, homœopathy aims to remove or make minimal the need for pharmaceutical medicines which can often become harmful. Pharmaceutical medicines are usually designed to suppress the symptoms of disease and so don’t address what homœopaths take to be the fundamental tendency to get diseased.

What kind of complaint can Homœopathy help?

As a complete system of medicine, homœopathy’s scope of action is very broad. The following list, though not comprehensive, will give an idea of the kinds of problems that homœopaths frequently treat:

• Allergic Conditions – eg. hayfever, asthma, food allergies.

• Recurrent Conditions – eg. sinusitis, colds, ear infections, migraine.

• Skin Disorders – eg. eczema, psoriasis, acne.

• Bowel Disorders – eg. irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, piles.

• Problems in Women – eg. menstrual problems, ailments in pregnancy, menopausal problems.

• Problems in Children – eg. behavioural difficulties, sleep problems, bed wetting.

• Chronic Conditions – eg. ME, arthritis, bronchitis, high blood pressure.

How to find a homœopath

There are over 2000 privately practising, professionally licensed homœopaths in Britain, many of whom practise at alternative therapy clinics. These homœopaths have all satisfied professional standards, such as those specified by The Society of Homeopaths, including completion of four years of study at a recognised college and compliance with a code of ethics and practice through a continued process of professional review. A list of recognised practitioners in your geographical area can be obtained by contacting the Society. Some conventional doctors also practice homœopathy and it is available to some extent through the NHS.

USEFUL INFORMATION

Books

Homeopathy, Medicine of the New Man, by George Vithoulkas, Thorsons.

Practical Homeopathy, A Complete Guide to Home Treatment, by Beth MacEoin, Bloomsbury.

Contacts

The Society of Homeopaths Telephone: 01604 621400 Facsimile: 01604 622622 Web: www.homeopathy-soh.org

Alastair Tait is a homœopath and practices at the Buckingham and High Street Clinics in Glasgow, as well as Ferringtons in Bridge of Weir, Scotland.