WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?

Homeopathy is an alternative system of medicine that was founded in the early 19th century by a German physician, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. It had its greatest popularity in the late 19th century, during which time about 15% of all medical doctors were homeopaths. In many other European countries this percentage was similar. However, with the advent of modern medicine, homeopathy was touted as "old and stodgy" by practitioners of conventional medicine and its popularity took a nosedive. This trend has reversed recently and since 1980 homeopathy is experiencing a strong resurgence of interest in the U.S., the U.K., as well as many other countries.

Homeopathy rests on the principle "Like Cures Like." This means that a disease can be cured by a medicine that is capable of producing symptoms similar to those experienced by the patient in a healthy person. Therefore the most important part of homeopathic treatment lies in the lengthy interview which the homeopath conducts with the patient in order to determine all the symptoms which the patient is experiencing. The homeopath then decides which medicine to prescribe based on the closest match between the patient's symptoms and the known symptoms elicited by the medicine in a healthy body.