The principles of homeopathy

Homeopathy is a type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAMs are treatments that are not based on conventional scientific theories. Other CAMS include:

•acupuncture - where needles are placed in certain parts of the body,
•chiropractic - where physical manipulation of the spine and joints is used to try to relieve symptoms, and
•faith healing.
The principles of homeopathy
Homeopathy was devised by a German doctor called Samuel Hahnemann during the 1790s.
Hahnemann had a series of ideas that evolved into the principles of homeopathy.

Like cures like
The first idea was that a substance that would cause symptoms in a healthy person can be used to cure the same symptoms in someone who is ill. For example, if somebody is suffering from insomnia, they can be treated with a homeopathic remedy that contains extracts of coffee.

Homeopaths refer to this as the principle of ‘like cures like’.

Potentisation
Hahnemann’s second idea is that the more you dilute a substance, the more you increase its power to treat symptoms that it would otherwise cause.

Homeopaths refer to this as the principle of ‘potentisation’.

Succession and proving
Hahnemann stated that to be effective, the process of dilution had to be performed in a very specific manner.

For example, a substance, such as a herb like belladonna, should be diluted into a glass container containing water or alcohol. The vessel is then shaken firmly 10 times.

Homeopaths believe that by shaking the vessel you can ‘imprint the healing energy of the medicinal substance throughout the body of water’.

The process of dilution and shaking is then repeated multiple times, with some homeopathic remedies being diluted by one drop in a hundred, thirty times over (a 30C dilution). This process is known as succession.

As the succession process is ongoing, a group of volunteers will take six doses of the remedy at different dilutions over the course of two days. They will record any mental or physical symptoms in a diary. Each person’s diary is then collated into a list of symptoms called a repertory. This process is known as ‘proving’.

Therefore, a homeopath will try to match your symptom to one that is caused by a remedy during the proving process.