Purpose
This page provides a
critical evaluation of Homeopathy for health care
professionals, students, and the general public.
What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy, from the Greek
words hómoios, meaning similar, and páthos,
meaning suffering, is a form of alternative medicine
that promotes the use of extremely dilute natural substances
to treat and prevent disease.
Where did
Homeopathy come from?
Homeopathy was begun by
Samuel Hahnemann in the early 1800s, and carried to
the United States by Hans Burch Gram in 1826.
During its height in 1880, 14 homeopathic medical
colleges were in operation. Homeopathy
subsequently declined and the Hahnemann Medical College
in Philadelphia was the last to close in 1920. In
1938, the
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) was passed with
strong influences from
Senator Royal Copeland, a homeopathic physician.
The FDCA included in its definition of "drug"
homeopathic remedies published in the
Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia
of the United States (HPUS), and gave
jurisdiction to the
Food and Drug Administration.1
What are the
basic tenants of Homeopathy?
Homeopathy presupposes that
disease states represent disturbances in the body's
internal balance of a self-healing spiritual energy, called its "vital
force." To return the energy to
balance, the homeopath selects a treatment, called a
"remedy". Remedies are produced by "dynamization"
of certain substances in a process called "succussion."
Substances to dynamize are chosen that, at toxic levels,
produce the constellation of symptoms that the remedy is
intended to treat. This follows the the fundamental rule
of homeopathy, the "Law of Similars," the idea that "like cures
like" (i.e. substances that cause a set of
symptoms can be used to cure diseases that produce
similar symptoms).
Two other rules govern the
field. The "Law of Minimum
Dose" is accomplished by substantial serial dilution
of remedies. The "Law
of Single Remedy" is expressed in classical
homeopathy by choosing the one remedy that most closely
fits the patient as a whole. The
selection of remedy occurs via a complicated algorithm,
matching the patient's symptom profile, personality
features, and miscellaneous other traits to the
indicated remedy listed in the HPUS or Homeopathic
Materia Medica. This process
is now expedited using one of several
software packages, such as
RADAR. Identifying which substances produce
which symptom profile is accomplished via
provings.3,
5,
6.
Who Practices
Homeopathy?
Practitioners of homeopathy
may have varied backgrounds and varied credentials.
Only Arizona,
Connecticut,
and Nevada license
homeopathic physicians. The state-by-state
prescribing authority of Homeopathic physicians and
other mid-level practitioners can be seen
here. Homeopathy is included within the
practice scope of
naturopathic physicians (holders of N.D. degrees) in
the thirteen states and the District of Columbia that
grant them licensure. Laws enacted under pressure
from the anti-regulatory
health freedom movement have allowed unlicensed
individuals to recommend homeopathic remedies in
California (SB
577), Louisiana (SB 189), Rhode Island (HB 6719),
and
Minnesota (Statute
146A).
Conventional
Medicine's View of Homeopathy
The validity of homeopathic
treatment is generally not accepted by conventional
practitioners of medicine or biomedical scientists.
The fundamental mechanisms of action in homeopathy are
at best not understood.
The preponderance of evidence in the scientific literature has been unable to
distinguish homeopathic therapies from placebos (see
clinical trials pages). The methodology of certain
studies has been suspect, and at least one article has
been withdrawn4.
Homeopaths may argue that
their treatments are not prone to the general means of
testing via randomized trials because significant
components of the treatment may be the interaction and
trust-building with the patient, that might be
compromised if the patient had a chance of receiving
placebos. The the classic homeopathic approach of
one treatment per one person starkly contrasts the
allopathic approach of one or more therapies per
disease, possibly making many of the randomized,
controlled trial study designs inappropriate for
homeopathic research3,
5,
7.
Without clear evidence of
benefit, there may be evidence of harm. An
outcomes study of cancer patients showed significantly
increased mortality among patients that delayed
allopathic treatment in favor of alternative therapies2.
As inconclusive as the
evidence may be, if patients perceive that these forms
of treatment are helping, then these treatments may have
value, but of course, homeopathic remedies should not be
substituted for proven therapies6.
Glossary
As you browse this
tutorial, you can click on the
glossary button on the left to find the definition
of unfamiliar terms. |
