INTRODUCTION
Homeopathy: Its Place In Medicine
Homeopaths, like all natural therapists, have always agreed on the most fundamental point in the treatment of
disease: that disease is caused by mistakes in the habits of living. Correct the mistakes of living, the thinking goes,
and disease will take care of itself. Only if the body has trouble in regaining its equilibrium should medicine be
given.
To date, this approach to medicine has served us well. It has taken the responsiblity for personal health from the
doctor and given it back to the individual. The message has been clear: live well, and last longer; look after your
life, and its quality will improve. Our vitality, a precious gift, should be nurtured; our life should be in our own
hands.
Vitality is the health factor that orthodox medicine has forgotten. Known more correctly as allopathy, orthodox
medicine is just one of the ten or so mainstream schools of medical thought existing throughout the world:
massage, herbalism, nature cure, nutrition, naturopathy, ayurveda, unani, acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic and
homeopathy make up the list of the main alternative medicines. These systems are traditionally developed, with
their roots deep in their countries' cultures. A number, like acupuncture and ayurveda, go back several thousand
years.
Homeopathy is a newcomer, as it goes back only two hundred years, to a time when allopathy was already
flourishing in Europe. It was developed in Germany, although both homeopathy and allopathy claim their
roots in Hippocrates, a Greek of the late fifth century BC, generally acknowledged to be the father of modern
medicine. Hippocrates, in turn, had already been influenced by unani, the medicine of the ancient Persians and
Egyptians, and by ayurveda from India. In this way it can be seen that many medical systems have common
beginnings.
Most of these medicines, with the notable exception of allopathy, have as their basic tenet that it is the vital energy
of the patient that must be treated, not just the physical symptoms. These medical systems are currently used for
the treatment of well over half of the world's population, and many have the support of the World Health
Organization, particularly in Third World countries. This support is fostering research, and an emergence of
traditional medicines is occurring worldwide.
The great developments that allopathic medicine lists as proof of its effectiveness are mostly confined to the
development of sophisticated tests, the treatment of life-threatening disorders, such as infection and traumatic
injury, and to one of its greatest triumphs, essential surgery. In these areas it is without peer. Much of this
development began in World War II, when the need for these was high; the development of specialized surgical
procedures, antibiotics and pain killers were particularly notable achievements. It was believed these successes
would be repeated with breakthroughs in the treatment of a broader range of illnesses.
But the routine use of allopathic medicines in treatment is not showing the success hoped for; the cost of drug
research is going up, and reports of side effects are increasing. The public is becoming more aware of the toxic
effects of many drugs. It is no news to anyone acquainted with the allopathic system that it functions principally to
treat existing illness and to care for the chronically ill: to pull people out of the river and resuscitate them, rather
than to prevent them falling in. There is a neglect of prevention, and the incidence of most preventable diseases
(such as cancer, asthma, heart disease, osteoporosis and hypertension) remains unacceptably high. There is also a
lack of urgency in the treatment of chronic disease compared with acute disease; with the exception of injuries,
Western medicine's most prevalent, serious, and costly health problems nearly all concern chronic disease.
Homeopathy is regarded by its practitioners as being well suited to the treatment of most common disorders,
including chronic disease, where allopathy is less appropriate. Homeopathic medicines offer many advantages, the
greatest being that they are safe, easy to use and cheap. Home-opathy is a system of medicine easily understood by the lay person, and one of its greatest uses is in the treatment of domestic ailments.
