What is Homeopathy?
introduction
Homeopathy is a system of natural complementary medicine that has been in existence for over 200 years. It uses specially-prepared, highly-diluted substances to gently stimulate the body’s own healing mechanisms.
Homeopathy can be used alongside conventional medicine, offering a safe and natural treatment for a wide range of acute and chronic conditions without side-effects. It is a holistic therapy, as it considers the whole person. The homeopath’s role is to select a remedy or remedies which match both your physical symptoms, and your mental and emotional characteristics.
history
200 years ago a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, came upon the principle of homeopathy by accident. Hahnemann found that if he gave the patient a much diluted remedy made from a substance that could cause the symptoms a patient was suffering from, he could cure those very same symptoms.
Homeopathy is based on the core principle that ‘like cures like’ i.e. a substance which can cause symptoms if taken in large doses, can be used in minute doses to treat similar symptoms. The idea that a substance can be damaging in large amounts, but beneficial in small amounts is not new to science, in fact this concept (‘hormesis’) has been around for decades and is increasingly well documented in such fields as biology and toxicology.
Hahnemann’s discoveries were a turning point in the history of medicine and since then homeopathy has proved itself a safe and highly effective therapy, to the point where today 450 million people around the world use homeopathy as their principle form of medicine.
Homeopathy has been shown to work on babies and animals, there are numerous published scientific trials have demonstrated its beneficial effects. (see Homeopathy Research Institute).
