About Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a system of medicine founded by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (177-1843) of Germany based on the principle that ‘like cures like’. In practice this means that a medicine capable of producing certain symptoms when taken by a healthy human being, is capable of curing any illness that displays similar symptoms.

Homeopathic medicines are tested on human volunteers (provers) to elicit symptoms they can produce. The symptoms of each remedy experienced by the provers are recorded in exact detail and they form the Homeopathic Materia Medica. The symptoms of the patient are matched with the symptoms of various remedies in the material medica to find out the single remedy whose symptoms are most similar to those of the patient (like cures like).

The Healing Power of Nature
The living organism is capable of reproducing and repairing itself due to its inherent natural power to ward off disease. The inner life force will only succumb to disease when its natural function is disturbed. Generally bacteria only have a harmful effect on us when our healing power of resistance is low. Homeopathic medicine aims to adjust this inner disturbance, thus boosting the body’s natural power to heal itself. Its aim is not to suppress the symptoms (as modern medicine does) but rather to treat the underlying cause of the inner weakness and restore the power of the vital force.

The Holistic View
Homeopathy treats the patient as a whole entity, rather than as individual symptoms. There is no medicine for any particular disease, but there is a medicine for the patient suffering from the disease. The individual, not the disease, is the treated. The homoeopath takes into consideration all the symptoms that distinguish a person as an individual.

It is increasingly acknowledged these days that the mind and body are interlinked. We now see the rapid rise of the holistic concept of disease with an emphasis on its psychosomatic aspect. Hahnemann recognised this long ago, and stressed that bodily and mental symptoms to be taken together to form the portrait of disease. The Homeopathic Materia Medica is rich in mental symptoms and we especially use these in selecting the remedy.

The present problem of the patient is not usually an isolated occurrence. It is part of a sequence. The family history and the events through childhood are taken into account as homoeopathy treats not only the present symptoms, but also the entire sequence, thereby preventing the progress of disease.

The task of the homeopath
The most important task for the homoeopath is to understand the individuality of each patient fully and correctly, so that he may select the right remedy.

The Medicines of Homeopathy
Most remedies are made from plants, animals and minerals, but they can also derive from healthy tissue and secretions (sarcodes). A sample is taken and potentised to extract the latent medicinal energy of the substance. No trace element of the original substance is found in the remedy but is replaced by a powerful energy. Hence no side effects can occur.