Wednesday, 14.02.2007
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of complementary therapy that adopts an intuitive and holistic approach to health and wellbeing. Working on the principle that 'like cures like' (or the ‘Law of Similars’), homeopaths evaluate a person's symptoms and then make a cure that consists of a dilution of substances that would produce the same symptoms in a healthy person.
Homeopathy uses the law of the minimum dose, in which miniscule amounts of a substance, diluted many times, are given to stimulate the body's own healing ability. For example, a homoeopathically prepared coffee (coffea tosta) may be used to treat certain types of sleeplessness. The central principle of homeopath could therefore be: anything that is capable of producing symptoms of disease in a healthy person can cure those symptoms in a sick person.
The German physician Samuel Hahnemann developed homeopathy in the late 1700's. His first major discovery while formulating homeopathy into a system of medicine occurred when he ingested Peruvian Bark (or Chinchona), a well-known cure for malaria. Hahnemann discovered that by taking regular doses of the bark, he began to exhibit malarial symptoms, and thus the first major breakthrough in homeopathic medicine was made.
Hahnemann peeled the leeches (along with bloodletting, a widely used and wholly dangerous form of medicine widely practised at the time) off a number of willing subjects and set up a series of experiments to prove his theories. He tested the affect of diluted drugs on these patients, noting any unusual symptoms they produced and also any improvements made to the patients' health. He reported that his methods were successful in treating some of the most virulent diseases of the time, including malaria, typhus and scarlet fever.
Homeopathy today is still basically the same method that Dr Hahnemann used. However, modern homeopaths are more interested in treating the whole person. Spiritual, mental, emotional and physical aspects are all considered important, and many people all over the world engage in homeopathy in order to maintain their wellbeing rather than treat a particular ailment. It is sometimes confused with herbalism, but homeopathy is guided by one overarching principle and although many homeopathic remedies do contain plants, they are also regularly based on animal milks and venom, metals, minerals and disease products.
Like all other forms of medicine, whether complementary or mainstream, homeopathy should be practised by accredited professionals only, so if you wish to practise you should enrol in a well-established and accredited course such as provided by the Irish School of Homeopathy. A class will teach you how to diagnose problems, make up the various medicines and administer them safely.
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