Law of similars
So-called “classical” homeopathy (i.e., therapy as defined by the founder of the method) has several distinctive features, starting with its understanding of people, health, and illness. It goes back to the German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), who discovered the so-called law of similars (“like cures like”) about 200 years ago, on which classical homeopathy is still based today. It states that sick people with certain symptoms can be helped by the remedy that causes exactly these symptoms when tested on healthy people. An example to illustrate this: if a patient develops erysipelas that looks and hurts as if they had been stung by a bee in the affected area, a classical homeopath will prescribe Apis, which is the homeopathic remedy made from bees.
So, before a homeopathic remedy can be prescribed, its effect must be tested on healthy test subjects (known as drug proving).
Drug proving on healthy people
Another key difference from conventional medicine is that homeopaths seek out a remedy for each patient individually, based on their symptoms. For example, if ten patients with neurodermatitis visit the same dermatologist, he will prescribe the same or a similar ointment to all ten; but if these ten patients go to a classical homeopath, he will prescribe a different remedy for each of the ten – according to the individual complaints of each patient. However, not only the skin complaint, but also all other symptoms of the patient are taken into account when choosing the right remedy. This is why an initial homeopathic consultation takes so long (about two hours). Only a prescription based on such a detailed initial consultation will be successful in the long term. In contrast, so-called complex remedies (homeopathic mixtures) usually only help in the short term, if at all.
Potentization
There are over 3,000 different homeopathic remedies in total, most of which originate from the plant, animal, and mineral kingdoms. During production, the source substance is repeatedly diluted and shaken with a water-alcohol mixture in a precisely defined process, so that ultimately nothing of the source substance remains in high homeopathic potencies. The basic idea behind this procedure came from the fact that in homeopathy (as in orthodox medicine), substances are used that could potentially produce strong side effects (e.g., mercury). Hahnemann and his successors therefore sought ways to optimize the healing effects of medicines and minimize their harmful effects by reducing the doses. This was tested again and again in thousands of drug trials and treated cases of illness, leading to the use of drug doses that are below our current chemical and physical detection limits.
Why homeopathic remedies are so effective despite this remains unclear. However, what is decisive is not the explanatory model (which changes frequently in medicine anyway), but the (placebo-controlled/reproducible) effect on the individuals treated (humans, animals)! Placebo effects exist here just as they do with any other medical method. However, the claim that homeopathic medicine has no more effect than a placebo, as is often asserted by critics and opponents of homeopathy, has been refuted many times—numerous placebo studies, meta-analyses, and clear effects even in infants and in veterinary medicine attest to this. Another example is Switzerland, where, after five years of in-depth scientific, economic, and patient satisfaction studies, homeopathic medicine was accepted by health insurance companies as part of general basic medical care.