Interesting references

Benor, Daniel J. Wholistic Homeopathy: Focus on psycho-spiritual health

Hayfield, R. Homeopathy: A Practical Guide to Everyday Health Care, Virgin Books 1995

National Center for Homeopathy discussions on homeopathy, resources    www.homeopathic.org/whatis.htm

van der Zee, Harry. Healing Humanity with Homeopathy: Homeopathy for epidemics, collective trauma and endemic diseases, International Journal of Healing and Caring 2009, 9(2), 1-27.

Whitmont, Edward C. The Alchemy of Healing: Psyche and Soma, Berkeley, CA: Homeopathic Education Services and North Atlantic Books 1993

Whitmont, Edward C. Psyche and Substance: Essays on Homeopathy in the Light of Jungian Psychology, Berkeley, CA: Homeopathic Education Services and North Atlantic Books 1980

Homeopathy:
Meta-analyses and Study Summaries

Updated 4/24/05

Homeopathy is well accepted in England and in much of the rest of the world. While the principles of homeopathy have not been clarified within western scientific understandings (which focus primarily on physical aspects of illness and treatments), they are explained within energy medicine.

Homeopathy works on the principle of similars. Treatments provide the organism with an opportunity to learn to deal with a symptom complex through minute doses of a substance that produces symptoms similar to those of the problems the person has. This works even when an organism is currently dealing with the very same symptoms elicited by the homeopathic substance. For example, rats that are poisoned with lead will excrete more lead when given homeopathic lead.

Homeopathic remedies may be given in doses that are so low that not a single molecule of the original substance could remain in the remedy. In this way, homeopathy is an energy medicine intervention.

Remedies are chosen individually for the person with the problem, making this also a wholistic therapy. Different remedies are usually prescribed for different individuals suffering from what would be diagnosed in western medicine as the same illness. This is because the homeopathic remedies are chosen in consideration of the personality, tastes, and other characteristics of the individual in addition to the symptoms of the presenting illness. This has made it difficult to perform controlled studies of homeopathic remedies - because a standard treatment regimen does not address each individual in the full and proper manner that homeopathy prefers for treatments.

Despite the above difficulties, controlled studies of homeopathy using standard treatment regimens have produced significant results.

Reviews of Homeopathy research suggest there is adequate evidence to confirm homeopathy produces significant effects for various problems. The acknowledged best study is for treatment of hay fever (last ref below).

Boissel, JP et al. Critical literature review on the effectiveness of homeopathy: overview of data from homeopathic medicine trials, Brussels: Homeopathic Medicine Research Group, Report to the European Commission 1996, 195-210.

Cucherat, M/ Haugh, MC/ Gooch, M/ Boissel, JP/ HMRAG. Evidence of clinical efficacy of homeopathy: A meta-analysis of clinical trials, Eur J Clin Pharmacol, 2000, 26:27-33. Reilly, David. Homeopathy: Increasing Scientific Validation, Alternative Therapies, March/April 2005, 11(2), 31.

Feder, Gene et al. Randomised controlled trials for homoeopathy, Who wants to know the results? British Medical J 2002, 324, 498-499 www.bmj.com/ cgi/ content/ full/ 324/ 7336/ 498 <http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7336/498>

Jonas, Wayne/ Jacobs, Jennifer. Healing with Homeopathy: The Complete Guide, New York: Warner 1996

Jonas, WB/ Kaptchuk, TJ/ Linde, K. A critical overview of homeopathy, Ann Intern Med. 2003, 138:393-399. Reilly, David. Homeopathy: Increasing Scientific Validation, Alternative Therapies, March/April 2005, 11(2), 31.

Kleijnen, J et al. Clinical trials of homeopathy, British Medical J 1991b, 302, 316-322.

Kollerstrom, Jean. Basic scientific research into the 'low-dose' effect, British Homeopathic J 1982, 71(2), 41-47.

Linde, K. Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? A meta-analysis of randomised, placebo controlled trials, Lancet, 1997, 350:834-43. Reilly, David. Homeopathy: Increasing Scientific Validation, Alternative Therapies, March/April 2005, 11(2), 31.

Reilly, David. Homeopathy: Increasing Scientific Validation, Alternative Therapies, March/April 2005, 11(2), 28-31.

Scofield, AM. Experimental research in homeopathy: A critical review, British Homeopathic J  Part I: 1984a,73(3), 160-180; Part II: 1984b, 73(4), 211-226.

Taylor-Reilly, David. The difficulty with homeopathy: A brief review of principles, methods and research, Complementary Medical Research 1988, 3(1), 70-78. (57 refs)

Taylor-Reilly, David/ Taylor, Morag Anne. Potent placebo or potency, British Homeopathic J 1985, 74(3),

Taylor-Reilly, David et al. Is homeopathy a placebo response: Controlled trial of homeopathic potency, with pollen in hayfever as model, Lancet 1986 (October), 881-886. 65-74. 
 

Homeopathy Research database

 A homeopathy research database has been established by the Homeopathy Research Institute. It comprises randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of homeopathy that have been published in peer-reviewed journals up to 2009. Other such RCTs will be added in due course, and the database will be updated on an ongoing basis to remain a current resource.

The Homeopathy Research Institute aims to promote and facilitate high quality research in the field of Homeopathy. The Institute has gathered some of the world's experts in Homeopathy and Complementary and Alternative Medicine research to form their Scientific Advisory Committee. It promotes research in the field of homeopathy by:

*  Facilitating research projects within international academic institutions

*  Providing a peer review process for research proposals submitted to their Scientific Advisory Committee.

The website and database are accessible at www.homeoinst.org

 

 Veterinary homeopathy

 Information on clinical research in veterinary homeopathy has been made accessible in the recently launched 'Veterinary Clinical Research Database in Homeopathy', or 'VetCR-database'. It contains approximately 200 entries of randomised clinical trials, non-randomised clinical trials, observational studies, drug provings, case reports and case series. It is free of charge and open to all interested veterinarians and researchers.

Most studies were published in English and German and involved gynaecological conditions in cattle, including infertility and MMA syndrome (mastitis-metritis-agalactia). More than 50% of the studies are randomised clinical trials. Most studies were motivated by and interesting for economic considerations (cost reduction, production increase). The general aims are, on the one hand, the improvement of meat and milk quality, the reduction of postpartum infertility and of the calving-to-conception-interval, the increase of the number of offspring and its survivability and the diminution of diseases, especially mastitis at drying-off, and on the other hand, the reduction of use of chemical therapeutics (especially antibiotics), to lower the chemical load of meat and milk and to reduce treatment costs.

Many promising results suggest that homeopathically supported health concepts in organic and conventional meat production and dairy herds are suitable to decrease chemical therapeutics input. However, there are also studies showing no positive effect after homeopathic treatment. Therefore, further research and reproductions, accompanied by systematic reviews and meta-analyses, are necessary.

The database was established by the Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation. The main objective of the Foundation is the integration and broader acceptance of homeopathy and complementary medicine in today's medical community. The Foundation is aimed at creating a bridge between conventional and complementary medicine, achieving real integration on the basis of science and research.

The VetCR-database can be entered at www.carstens-stiftung.de/clinresvet/index.php