Principles of Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a type of alternative medicine that deals with using symptoms as a means to help the body heal itself. Homeopathic remedies usually aim to display the same symptoms associated with certain ailments and diseases. Symptoms are seen as a way that the body’s defense mechanism is working and fighting of the underlying cause. Symptoms, homeopaths believe, are not something that should be suppressed since doing so would only work against the body ’s attempt to cure it.

The practice of homeopathy is based on certain principles. It is by these principles that the remedies used are being developed and used to treat certain ailments. The basic principles include the Law of Similars and the Principle of Minimum Dose.

Law of Similars

According to homeopathic philosophy, the Law of Similars is base don the assumption that like shall be cured by like. It was a principle that has its roots even from ancient philosophers and physicians. It is the principle for which homeopathic medicine is strongly based on. A remedy for a certain ailment is a substance that is capable of producing symptoms in a healthy person that are similar to the ones that a patient suffers from.

Homeopathy remedies are usually based on substances that can produce symptoms associated with certain diseases if given in large doses. By giving such substances in minute doses to a patient, it will effectively cure the disease. This is also based on the belief that nature does not allow two similar diseases to exist in the body at the same time as taken from the Law of Similars. By introducing an artificial disease as that produced by the homeopathic remedy, the body may be able to push the original one out, thereby curing it.

The Principle of Minimum Dose

This principle states that the a substance going through extreme dilution can enhance its curative properties while eliminating the side effects. The principle is the reverse of what conventional medicine believes in- the more doses of a substance you administer, the more potent it becomes. The Principle of Minimum Dose makes use of the region of potency of substances by decreasing its concentration below a certain threshold through dilution.