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

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 Ð 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 Ôlow-doseÕ 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 Ð 1984a,73(3), 160-180; Part II Ð 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.