There’s a lot of anti-homeopathy stuff in the media at the moment. I totally understand why, but think that people who attack homeopathy are a little reductionist in their understanding of health.
From personal experience, homeopathy does work. I assume this is due to the placebo effect, which I think acts as a form of sympathetic magic. In other words, every time you take the pill, you are evoking the sense of well being that the homeopath created in the consultation. In my experience, homeopathic consultations are really good, as it is the only time some one listened to me talk about health, and made observations based on this. Normal doctors have usually been pretty dismissive about what I think is going on in my own body. They are the professionals, they’ll tell me what’s wrong with me. Generally, this has left me feeling disempowered, and still sick.
For me, taking a homeopathic pill is a ritual to remind your psyche that you are taking measures to address a problem. I think this triggers homeostasis – the tendency of your body to heal itself and return to a state of equilibrium. Since so much of ill health is tied up in our mental and psychological states, addressing this makes a real difference.
But I disagree with buying homeopathic remedies off the shelf and thinking they will work.
