Homeopathy Concept & Philosophy

 

What is homoeopathy?

The word 'homoeopathy' is derived from two Greek words, 'Homois' meaning similar and 'pathos' meaning suffering.  Homoeopathy simply means treating diseases with remedies, prescribed in minute doses, which are capable of producing symptoms similar to the disease when taken by healthy people.  It is based on the natural law of healing-"Similia Similibus Curantur" which means "likes are cured by likes". 

Homeopathy is a holistic system of medicine that uses tiny doses of natural substances to stimulate the bodies own healing powers. It is a natural approach to medicine that works without contraindications or side effects to stimulate the body's curative responses so the body heals itself. 

Another defination:

Homoeopathy, as a specialised method of drug therapy, is a therapeutic method of curing the natural suffering of a man by the administration of drug which have been experimentally proved to possess power of producing similar, artificial suffering in a healthy human being. In short, it is a medicine of likes, according to a law of therapeutics, known as Similia Similibus Curentur (let likes be treated by likes)

More details:

Your body has the ability to heal itself.  When you are ill, your body produces symptoms, which is how we know that the body has recognized that something is wrong and is actively working to heal it self. This 'natural regulator' is your body's auto regulatory mechanism and it works to keep your body in balance - or in a state of homeostasis.

If you go outside and it is very hot, your body will recognize it is too hot and begin to perspire. Your homeostatic mechanism is producing a symptom - perspi­ration - in an effort to cool down the body. If you go outside and it is very cold, the symp­tom is shivering.  Your homeostatic mechanism is trying to warm the body up by shivering to produce heat. Think about the last time you were shivering.  You could not control it and you did not stop until you were warm.  It is the same way with homeopathic medicines.  If you are ill and your body is showing symptoms, the symptoms will not disappear until the source of the symptoms has disappeared.

 Homeopathic medicines stimulate your body's homeostatic mechanism so your body heals itself by dealing with the sources of your symptoms. Homeopathy is different from conventional medicine because conventional medicine simply defines health as the lack of symptoms (if you dry up a runny nose, is your cold gone and are you healthy?).  Homeopathy defines health as the lack of disease (if you get rid of the source of the runny nose in the process of dealing with the source, the runny nose will disappear on its own.).

Use of natural substances, called remedies, is based on the discovery that a substance can cure the same problem it can cause. Any plant, mineral, or animal product, when given in a crude, undiluted form, to a healthy individual, causes specific symptoms. In highly diluted form, however, this same substance is capable of curing exactly those symptoms, which it is able to produce. "Let likes be treated by likes" is the basic homeopathic principle. Example of this principle can be seen with the common onion. Slicing an onion can cause symptoms of burning, watery eyes plus sneezing and a runny nose. A homeopath would prescribe homeopathically prepared onion to a person who presents exactly these symptoms in cases of hay fever. Thus "Like cures like."

Origin of Homeopathy:

Over 200 years ago, the German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) discovered the principle that what substance could cause in the way of symptoms it could also cure.

 More details:

Hahnemann was struck by the effect that certain drugs, when taken by him while quite health, produced symptoms that the drug was known to cure in sick persons, For instance, when he took Cinchona Bark, which contains quinine, he became ill with symptoms that exactly mimicked intermittent fever (now called malaria).  He wondered if the reason Cin­chona worked against intermittent fever was because it caused symptoms indistinguishable from intermittent fever in a healthy human.

Hahnemann continued to experiment, noting that every sub­stance he took, whether a herb, a mineral, an animal product or a chemical compound, produced definite distinct symptom" in him.  He further noted that no two substances produced exactly the same set of symptoms.  Each provoked its own unique pattern of symptoms.  Furthermore, the symptoms wore not just confined to the physical plane. Every substance tested also affected the mind and the emotions apart from the body,

 Eventually, Hahnemann began to treat the. Sick on the formula 'let likes be treated by likes'.  From the outset he achieved outstanding clinical success.

History of Homeopathy

Homeopathic principles were already used in ancient medicine. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) re-discovered these principles, developed them into a science, and gave it the name Homeopathy -- from the Greek words "homoios" (similar) and "pathos" (sickness). This new system of healing became widely used and gradually spread all over the world.

 In the last 20 years, due to increased awareness of the side- effects of medical drugs, homeopathy is going through an explosion of growth and development.

Homeopathic Treatment

Homeopathy does not treat diseases per se. The homeopath prescribes on individual characteristics rather than on common disease symptoms; thus it can help in virtually any health issue. It is excellent in first aid situations, especially when given immediately -- even while the patient is waiting for emergency treatment. It promotes healing in the event of mechanical injury or other physical damage.

It is particularly effective in treating acute conditions, in which case relief can be instantaneous. It may reduce the intensity and duration of the illness and the time required to recover. Homeopathy is also very useful in long-standing, chronic conditions where conventional treatment may only be able to offer palliation with powerful, often- toxic drugs, and little hope for improvement. It can lend tremendous support and relief to individuals suffering from these often draining and frustrating conditions.

Homeopathic constitutional treatment encompasses the whole individual and therefore it can address virtually any illness, whether its origin is physical, mental, or emotional. For cancer or other diseases with severe pathology, homeopathy cannot offer a cure. However, even in terminal states, it can alleviate symptoms on both the physical and mental/emotional levels.
 

Concepts & Principles of Homeopathy

 Law of Similars:

It is also called the Law of Cure.  This law demonstrates that the selected remedy is able to produce a range of symptoms in a healthy person similar to that observed in the patient, thus leading to the principle of Similia Similibus Curentur i.e. let likes be treated by likes. To give a simple example the effects of peeling an onion are very similar to the symptoms of acute cold.  The remedy prepared from the red onion, Allium cepa, is used to treat the type of cold in which the symptoms resemble those we get from peeling onion.  The principle has been verified by millions of homoeopaths all over the world.

 Single Remedy:

Homoeopathic medicines are always administered in single, simple unadulterated form.

 Minimum Dose:

The similar remedy selected for a sick is prescribed in a minimum dose, so that when administered there are no toxic effects on the body.  It just acts as a triggering and catalytic agent to stimulate and strengthen the existing defense mechanism of the body. For this medicines are prepared in a special way known as Drug dynamisation or Potentisation.  Drug dynamisation involves trituration for solid substances and succussion for liquid substances.  Drugs prepared in such a way retain maximum medicinal power without producing any toxic effect on the body.

 Holistic as well as individualistic approach:

This is a key point and unique to Homoeopathy.  Even though it may- sound strange, Homoeopathy does not treat disease per se.  A Homoeopath does not concentrate his therapy on; say arthritis or bronchitis or cancer.  In other words he does not limit his treatment to painful joints, inflamed bronchi or a malignant growth.  Rather, he treats all aspects mental, emotional and physical of the person who happens to be suffering with arthritis or bronchitis or cancer.  Homoeopathy regards each patient as a unique individual, e.g. six persons with hepatitis might get a different homoeopathic remedy, each one aimed at the individual’s totality of symptoms rather than at his liver alone-.  The physicians’ interest is not only to alleviate the patients’ present symptoms but also his long-term well-being.

 Vital Force:

        Dr. Hahnemann discovered that the human body is endowed with a force, which reacts against the inimical forces, which produce disease. It becomes deranged during illness and the best-selected homoeopathic remedies stimulate this failing vital force so that, as Hahnemann said, "it can again take the reins and conduct the system on way to health".

 Miasms:

Psora, Syphilis and Sycosis are the three fundamental causes of all chronic diseases, which afflict the human race as discovered by Dr. Hahnemann and called them miasms. This word is derived from Greek word miainein meaning 'to pollute'.  Psora is present from the beginning to end of life and is the root cause of most of the diseases.

 Drug Provings:

To apply drugs for therapeutic use, their curative powers should be known.  The proving of the drug is the method employed to know these powers and is unique to homoeopathy as they are proved on healthy human beings.  The symptoms thus known are the true record of the curative properties of a drug or the pathogenesis of a drug.