Paths to Healing: Homeopathy
By By Anna Moore · May 16, 2024
Our newsletter team examines six different approaches to healing
Designing treatment around the 'law of similars' is key to this approach created in the 1700s
A holistic system of medicine based on the “law of similars” or “treating like with like.”
Number of practitioners
An estimated 2,500 to 4,000 professionals practice homeopathy in the U.S., a few of whom are physicians.
History
Homeopathy was developed by Samuel Hahnemann in the 1790s in Germany when he discovered that doses of cinchona, a flowered plant, produced all the symptoms of malaria but to a mild degree and without the characteristic rigors of the disease. According to the National Library of Medicine, Hahnemann grew to believe that if a person had an illness, it could be cured by giving them medicine which, if given to a healthy person, would produce similar symptoms of the same illness but to a slighter degree.
Homeopathy was later introduced in the U.S. in 1825. The practice has faced speculation and challenges since the mid-1800s. The American Institute of Homeopathy (AIH) was founded in 1844 and is the oldest national medical association in the U.S. Three years after its founding, the American Medical Association was founded in part to counteract the influence of homeopathy, considered its main competition.
Approach to healing
Homeopathy means “like disease.” The medicine given is “like the disease” that the person has. Homeopathy uses medicines that appear to stimulate and direct the body’s own self-healing mechanisms, or homeostasis, the AIH states.
It's the safest medicine on the planet, according to Robert Scott Bell, a homeopath and host of The Robert Scott Bell Show.
“You take these substances from the natural kingdoms—the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms,” Bell said. “You convert them by a process of serial dilution and succussion (vigorous shaking) to the point where they are completely nontoxic, and in some cases considered nonmaterial.”
Homeopathy stimulates healing responses to conditions by administering substances that mimic the symptoms of those conditions in healthy people.
To explain the law of similars, Bell used the example of poison ivy exposure.
“If you rub poison ivy on your body, you know that you’ll typically get a rash that will come with itching and oozing,” he said. “There might even be stiffness of the joints associated with it. So, if we take poison ivy and convert it into a homeopathic medicine, it counters not only the poison ivy exposure, but similar suffering. You could have eczema or psoriasis or skin rashes that mimic poison ivy symptoms and you use the homeopathic medicine to counteract it, even if it wasn’t caused by poison ivy.”
Homeopathic remedies all have a detailed list of symptoms, or symptom picture, associated with them so patients can make careful selection of the right remedy to appropriately respond to what’s going on in the body.
Homeopathic medicine can come in the form of liquid, granules, powder, or tablets. Homeopathic doctors may also advise lifestyle and dietary changes as part of the treatment plan.
Differences
Bell said that while homeopathy is a natural form of medicine, the practice is not the same as naturopathic medicine.
“A naturopath may do homeopathy, but a homeopath doesn’t necessarily use naturopathy, so it’s its own specific designation within the fields of natural medicine,” he explained.
Common ailments treated
Homeopaths are the ultimate generalists, Bell said. Anything that manifests as a symptom that you can identify has a corresponding remedy or a series of remedies that may be indicated for use.
“We can address anything because there’s no limit to the symptoms, and they’re matching up with the various homeopathic medicines,” he said.
Patients can typically purchase homeopathy remedies over the counter rather than with a prescription. Unlike allopathic or pharmaceutical medicine that is made synthetically and patented, then brought to market under FDA approval, homeopathic medicine doesn’t go through pretrial qualifications but has legal standing as a drug in the U.S. While there are currently no homeopathic products approved by the FDA, “under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, homeopathic products are subject to the same requirements related to approval, adulteration, and misbranding as other drug products,” the FDA states.
Homeopaths treat patients with symptoms of asthma, depression, headaches, and migraines, allergic rhinitis, otitis media, anxiety, dermatitis, and arthritis using homeopathic remedies.
Certification and licensing
Most states do not license homeopathic doctors, and states regulate homeopathy and other alternative medicine disciplines differently. There are numerous independent schools and training programs for the practice. To be certified through the Council of Homeopathic Certification, a Certificate of Classical Homeopathy must be earned at the end of a four-year professional practitioner program.
Read about other paths to healing:
The information provided in this article is for educational purposes and is not meant as medical advice. The information is not meant to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health professional.