When someone said that less is more, they must have been thinking about homeopathy. Homeopathy is an alternative medical treatment that uses trace elements of various plants to treat different medical conditions.
Someone who practices homeopathy is called a homeopath. While homeopathy has made a resurgence in popularity the past few years, it is not a new idea. Homeopaths have been practicing their medical art since the mid 1800’s. Many people feel that it was developed in response to the medical practices of the time, which included such barbarities as blood-letting and mercury cures. Homeopathy was the kinder, gentler alternative to the traditional medicine of the time.
So what exactly is homeopathy? The general idea behind homeopathy is that the body develops a defensive response to certain symptoms as well as certain diseases. A homeopathy will give you super-diluted substance that in a stronger form would trigger the symptoms you are suffering from with the belief that your body will develop a reaction and cure itself of the symptom. While this idea may seem a bit strange, it is really not too much different than a doctor giving you a shot with dead polio virus in order to keep you from getting polio.
An example of how a homeopath might treat you is that if you were suffering from insomnia, a homeopath may treat you with a super diluted tonic of an extract of coffee. And by super diluted, we mean that one drop of the coffee extract is vigorously mixed with up to 3000 drops of water. At that level, you would not even be aware that the solution contained anything resembling coffee. But homeopaths believe that the water “remembers” the make-up of the coffee extract and through the special process of shaking and diluting, the water has become something more than water.
Homeopathy was originally developed by Samuel Hahnemann. Since then, homeopathy has risen and fallen to rise again. During its hay day as a medical alternative, homeopath were so prevalent that the medical associations of the time accepted homeopaths as equals within the medical profession. By the 1970’s, there were less than 100 people practicing homeopathy in the United States. Many people believed that homeopathy would be completely abandoned within a few decades. But they were wrong.
Today, homeopathy is making a huge resurgence, especially in Europe. The main reason is that studies are beginning to show that homeopathy actually works in some cases. But read that last line carefully; it says “beginning to”, not “does” and “some cases” not “all the time”. If you have a medical condition that you think may be helped by the use of homeopathy, you will want to work with both a homeopath and a doctor. Even most homeopaths will agree, that the combination of traditional and homeopathic medicine is the best combination for today’s medical conditions.