Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a gentle and effective deep-healing system of medicine that is based on the Law of Similars. Samuel Hahnemann described this principle by using the Latin phrase: Similia Similibus Curentur, which translates: "Let likes cure likes." Homoeopathy is a revolutionary, natural medical science. It cures from the inside out and treats the whole person. Homeopathy works well for chronic illnesses as well as for acute ones. It always looks for the underlying causes and seeks to remove maintaining causes and underlying emotional and mental stresses. This is unlike traditional pharmaceuticals, which suppress symptoms that later recur (often on a deeper level). Remedies are prepared from natural substances to precise standards and work by stimulating the body's own, natural healing power. This principle of "like cures like" has been known for centuries; it was Samuel Hahnemann who developed it into a system of medicine called homeopathy, and it has been used successfully for more than 200 years.
More about Homeopathy:
In the late 1700s, Samuel Hahnemann, a physician, chemist, and linguist in Germany, proposed a new approach to treating illness. This was at a time when the most common medical treatments were harsh and severe, such as bloodletting, purging, blistering, and the use of mercury.
Hahnemann was interested in developing a less threatening approach to medicine. His first major clue came when he was in the process of translating an herbal text on cinchona bark, which stated that the bark would cure malaria through its bitter quality. He decided to test this property on himself and took some cinchona bark. He observed that, as a healthy person, he developed symptoms that were very similar to malarial symptoms. This led Hahnemann to consider that a substance which creates certain symptoms in a healthy person might cure a sick person with very similar symptoms. This concept is called the “similia principle” or “like cures like.” The Similia principle had a prior history in medicine, from Hippocrates in Ancient Greece – who noted, for example, that recurrent vomiting could be treated with an emetic (such as Ipecacuanha) which would have been expected to make the vomiting worse.
Another way to view “like cures like” is that symptoms are part of the body’s attempt to heal itself – for example, a fever can develop as a result of an immune response to an infection, and a cough may help to eliminate mucus – and homeopathic remedies may be given to support this self-healing response.
Hahnemann tested single, pure substances (later in diluted form) on himself and on healthy volunteers. He kept meticulous records of his experiments and participants’ responses, and he combined these observations with information from clinical practice, the known uses of herbs and other medicinal substances, and toxicology, eventually treating the sick and developing a homeopathic clinical practice.
Homeopathic treatment is based upon a total picture of an individual and his or her symptoms, not solely upon the symptoms of a disease. Homeopaths evaluate not only a person’s physical symptoms but their emotions, mental states, lifestyle, nutrition, and other aspects of their being. In homeopathy, different people with the same illness but (slightly) different symptoms may receive different homeopathic remedies.
Scientists talk a lot about the concept of potentiation, which came out of Hahnemann's practice and with which he experimented for all of his more than 50 years of professional life as a homeopath.
Often people think that homeopathic remedies are simply diluted to arrive at the desired solution, which is not the case. Potentiation of a homeopathic remedy is a complicated process which involves dilution (in a medically neutral substance like water) and succussion (vigorous shaking) after each step, which then makes the remedy more, not less, potent. If dilution continues to a point where there are physically no more of the substance's molecules in solution, homeopaths know by experience that they are still working in a proper and very specific way. Modern cluster physics seems to confirm this and has come independently to very similar results. It talks about how scientists can create stable and individually shaped water clusters by using the same process we use in making homeopathic remedies.
Homeopathy has now been used for over 200 years and is popular all over the world especially in France, Germany, Great Britain, India and Pakistan, and in certain South American countries.
Homeopathy was brought to the United States, beginning in 1825, by several doctors who had studied it in Europe. After establishing their own practices they went on to bring in other doctors to homeopathic practice. Schools were established and a unifying medical organization was formed. Homeopathy rapidly became very popular and at the turn of the century there were more homeopathic MD's than conventional doctors. At this time conventional MD's and the pharmaceutical industry got together to form the AMA (American Medical Association), with the single goal of turning the use of homeopathy by licensed physicians into a felony. MD's who used homeopathy in their practices were threatened with having their licenses revoked, and with criminal prosecution.
Nowadays, US homeopathy is slowly growing in popularity and it can be expected to rise to a new level of popularity and finally regenerate from its fall.
Homeopathic medicines are made from plant, mineral, and some animal substances. They ARE NOT the same as herbal remedies as many people believe. Homeopathic remedies must undergo a prescribed series of dilutions and succusions (agitations) to arrive at a certain potency. The potency used in any disease picture depends on many factors, including duration and severity of symptoms, the level of depth of the disease (is it deep-seated or superficial) and the patient's energy level or life force. There is a Homeopathic Pharmacopeia just as there is one in allopathic medicine. Homeopathic remedies are approved for over the counter sales and are available at most health food stores.
Homeopathic medicines are very effective - in both acute and chronic conditions. Homeopathy in fact, is the only system of medicine which offers curative treatment (not palliative) for a large number of chronic ailments which have been labeled as 'incurable' by other schools of medicine. With acute ailments also, homeopathic medicines, if selected properly, produce results faster than do other systems of medicine.
Why Homeopathy is inexpensive:
Homeopathic medicines are usually much cheaper than allopathic drugs. As well, there is little stress wasted on costly diagnostic procedures as homeopaths rely solely on symptoms to find the right medicine for a person. So, the overall cost of treatment is very low. Though this may not appear so to many people in western countries as homeopathic treatment is usually not covered by insurance companies. But thinking that way is using myopic vision: one has to consider long-term gains. Under proper homeopathic treatment not only the person's immediate complaints improve, but his or her susceptibility to disease decreases as there is a general improvement in total health. So in the long run, better health is achieved, less medical consultations are needed and cumulative cost is very low.
Homeopathy on wikipedia.
