How does a classical homeopath differ from a medical doctor?

Classical homeopathy and conventional medicine are very different from each other.  First of all, the philosophy of healing is different.  We all agree that health is the absence of symptoms.  However, while medical doctors diagnose disease based on common symptoms, homeopaths are interested in the unique symptoms of a person.  Unique symptoms tell the homeopath how the individual person is coping with the disease they have.  Homeopaths believe that symptoms are the language of the “vital force,” and they believe that someone with physical symptoms is healthier than someone with emotional or mental symptoms.  With this view, if physical symptoms disappear but emotional or mental symptoms arise, homeopaths believe the person is not healthier.  Homeopaths do not separate the symptoms from the person.  If the person’s symptoms are eliminated but the person is not better overall, homeopaths believe this is not health.  These two scenarios are cases of “suppression”–that is, when the disease is driven further into the person even though the symptoms on the surface have disappeared.

Second, the ways in which patient information is gathered differs greatly between the homeopath and the medical doctor.  While most conventional medical doctors aim their visit toward understanding the name of the disease so they know how to treat that disease by a prescribed method(s), homeopaths aim their visit toward getting to know the coping strategy of the patient, which tells the homeopath how that person’s individual body deals with the disease.  Toward these differing ends, medical doctors tend to ask directed questions and have shorter visits, while homeopaths ask very broad and open-ended questions to encourage the patient to speak, which invariably requires longer visits.

 Lastly, the medicines used by medical doctors and homeopaths vastly differ from each other.  Conventional medical doctors choose to use isolated chemicals that are very strong.  Homeopaths use dilute substances that are very mild.  While there are times when strong chemicals are needed, such as in some acute emergencies, homeopaths believe they overpower the body’s natural ability to heal itself.  Within the body, there are many chemical messengers, none of which are in the isolated form or in the strength of pharmaceuticals that are given to people.  These chemical messengers are responsible for the communication within an organism.  Homeopaths believe a very subtle push or stimulus given to these chemical messengers can bring about a change in communication that leads to healing.  Disease is seen as a destructive path the body gets on and continues down unless a stimulus is given that influences the body to take another path, toward health.

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