Homeopathy is a healing system that has been around for 200 years. Its founder, Samuel Hahnemann, stumbled upon a principle that was already hinted at by healers for many centuries – the law of similars. This important principle was that substances in our surroundings that bring forth certain symptoms in healthy people, will act as remedies when given in very small amounts to sick people with similar symptoms.
Many clinical studies in Europe have shown conclusively that homeopathy works for a wide range of acute and chronic human conditions. These include infectious diseases, allergies, gynecological conditions, skin problems, digestive problems, psychological disorders, genetic disorders and many other conditions. Because of the fact that many people have found homeopathic remedies to work in practice, it has grown in popularity in Europe as well as the United States of America. More than 30% of physicians in Europe either prescribe homeopathic remedies themselves or refer their patients to practitioners. In the USA, more and more people are turning to alternative treatments, including homeopathy as the result of the perceived ineffectiveness and negative side effects of orthodox medicines.

Homeopathy is a holistic healing system that views symptoms as positive and adaptive responses of the body to the many stressful situations it may experience. The symptoms are not the disease, but they are simply the signals that accompany the disease. Curing the symptoms, which orthodox medicine often does, will not cure the disease but may even drive it deeper into the body with inevitably worsening results at a later stage. In fact, homeopaths see the “disease” as a pre-existing susceptibility or imbalance that leads to an infection or some other expression of the problem, like cancer or a heart attack. Healing can only take place if one addresses the underlying susceptibility or imbalance.

Homeopathic practitioners recognize that the body can and does heal itself. Sometimes, however, it needs a slight push or catalyst to activate the healing process. A homeopathic remedy is the substance that acts as this important catalyst.

“Classical homeopathy” is defined as the original Hahnemann healing system where the practitioner makes an in-depth analysis of the patient and matches a single remedy to the symptoms of this patient. In contrast, some practitioners practice “pluralist” homeopathy where more than one remedy is given at the same time, or “formula” homeopathy where a pre-prepared formula of different remedies is given to the patient.

“Constitutional homeopathy” is similar to classical homeopathy where a single remedy is used to treat a patient. In constitutional homeopathy, however, the theory is that each single remedy has a set of traits and, for healing to take place, these traits must correspond with the personality traits of the client or the total physical and mental/emotional symptoms of the client. The underlying assumption of constitutional homeopathy is that a human being is a holistic entity and that disease symptoms cannot be viewed outside the context of a person’s whole constitutional make-up. The one symptom is but the tip of an iceberg of a host of other, often hidden, conditions – emotional as well as physical – that determine the well-being of any individual. Thus, if the practitioner wants to find the one homeopathic remedy that will help the patient to heal him- or herself, it is important to acquire a deep understanding of the whole personality of that patient.

How does the constitutional homeopath acquire an in-depth understanding of the patient? Successful homeopaths all have very good analytical and observational skills over and above their knowledge of the various homeopathic remedies. Patients should be aware that when the homeopath sometimes asks questions that seem to be probing into areas that are not related to the symptom or symptoms reported by the patient, he is trying to find the one remedy that will address the totality of the person in front of him. Very often, something that happened to patients during early childhood may be affecting their health when they are forty or fifty years of age.

The process of finding the correct constitutional remedy is started by the process of casetaking. The homeopath will already take note of certain bodily attributes and appearances when the patient enters the room. Patients will then be asked to talk about themselves and to describe their symptoms. The homeopath will ask certain questions to establish the personality type of the patient. Patients could be asked if they would like to change anything about themselves, whether they have fears or phobias, whether they ever get angry, what their professions are and what their parents are like. Only when the practitioner has a god grasp of the patients’ symptoms as well as their physical, emotional and mental states, can he make an informed decision about the appropriate single homeopathic remedy with traits that will match the personality traits of the patient.

The advantage of a homeopathic remedy is that it will have no adverse side-effects even if it does not work. On the other hand, an appropriate constitutional remedy should not only help with the symptoms reported by the patient, but should also lead to an improvement in overall health and well-being. Whereas allopathic medicines may have long-term negative consequences, homeopathic remedies are not repeated very often and a single dosage may bring about a permanent cure.