Efficacy of Homeopathy

Essay by Viktoriya1806University, Bachelor'sA+, February 2007

download word file, 8 pages 5.0

"Homeopathy is a fanciful doctrine, which maintains that disordered actions in the human body are to be cured by inducing other disordered actions of the same kind, and this to be accomplished by infinitesimally small doses" (McSherry 89). The fundamental principle of homeopathic treatment is the axiom similia similibus curentur, "the like is cured by the like." According to the Old English saying, "eat the hair of the dog that bit you." It is often quoted by drunks, who thus rationalize using a small amount of the same alcoholic drink as they did the previous night, to overcome the hangover. In reality they are natural homeopaths. Even though homeopathy may seem evident, since its first appearance in nineteenth century it has been very controversial. A lot of people have been disputing, are disputing, and will be disputing homeopathy by asking various questions about its efficacy. Why should the substances which cause certain symptoms not make them worse rather than better? How can a dilution that no longer contains the original substance have a physiological effect? Even more questionable is the proposition that diluting increases the homeopathic effect.

On the other hand, there are several pieces of evidence which can prove the efficacy of homeopathy such as personal experience, the test of time, basic Ultra High Dilutions (UHD) research, clinical evidence, and holistic treatment. Even though homeopathy has been a subject of much controversy for a long time, this method of curing various diseases has already proved its own efficacy.

To begin with, the first evidence to support homeopathy's effectiveness is people's direct experience. Homeopathy's first major expansion occurred in the middle of the nineteenth century when Hahnemann's students proved to be so effective in the cholera epidemics that swept Europe. Moreover, the expansion of homeopathy in America in...