Article Medically Reviewed By:
Chris D. Meletis, ND
Executive Director The Institute for Healthy Aging Beaverton, OR
Overview
What Is It?
Homeopathy is a natural, noninvasive system of medical treatment based on the theory that substances that cause certain symptoms in a healthy person can—in diluted amounts—cure those symptoms in an unhealthy person.
Homeopathy is a natural, noninvasive system of medical treatment based on the theory that substances that cause certain symptoms in a healthy person can—in diluted amounts—cure those symptoms in an unhealthy person. Thus, we get the name homeopathy: homeo for similar, pathy for disease. The logic is that the similar substance promotes healing by stimulating your body's natural healing mechanisms.
The term "homeopathy" is often incorrectly used to refer to almost any alternative approach to medicine—especially the use of herbal and other natural remedies. The practice does, however, share much in common with other forms of alternative health care. For instance, homeopathy, like some other types of alternative medicine, takes a holistic approach to health: It focuses on the whole person, not solely on the condition. Homeopathy is designed to help the body heal itself—not to suppress or control symptoms. In conventional—or allopathic—medicine, the aim often is to control illness through drugs or surgery. Homeopaths contend that this approach often fails to restore the patient to health and only suppresses symptoms. Homeopathy seeks to restore health rather than to cure illness.
Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, founded homeopathy in the late 18th century, and it came to United States around 1825, spread by American physicians who had studied in Europe and embraced the approach. Its popularity reached a peak in the 19th century. As allopathic medicine (the term applied to the general practice of medicine today) gained prominence in the 20th century, homeopathy fell off dramatically. It's always been popular in many European and Asian countries, and it's starting to regain a following here, thanks to the current interest in alternative and complementary approaches to health care.
Several sources, including "New Choices in Natural Healing: Over 1,800 of the Best Self-Help Remedies from the World of Alternative Medicine," (Rodale Press, 1995), estimate that more than 2.5 million people seek homeopathic care annually. But since there's no single entity counting patients or practitioners, it's impossible to know an exact figure. It's also hard to gauge how many Americans use homeopathic remedies—and it's particularly difficult to determine which consumers buy the products because they are "natural" and which are making the purchase because they embrace homeopathy. But manufacturers do gauge sales, and sales of homeopathic remedies are on the rise. Retail sales for homeopathy in the United States are around $300 to $450 million annua...
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