Ashtead and Homoeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine
It was first proposed by German physician Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, that treats patients with heavily diluted preparations which are thought to cause effects similar to the symptoms presented. Homeopathic remedies are prepared by serial dilution with shaking by forceful striking, which homeopaths term "succussion," after each dilution under the assumption that this increases the effect of the treatment. This process is referred to as "potentization". Dilution often continues until none of the original substance remains.
Apart from the symptoms of the disease, homeopaths use aspects of the patient's physical and psychological state in recommending remedies. Homeopathic reference books known as repertories are then consulted, and a remedy is selected based on the totality of symptoms. Homeopathic remedies are considered safe, with rare exceptions.However, some homeopaths have been criticized for putting patients at risk with advice to avoid conventional medicine such as vaccinations, anti-malarial drugs,and antibiotics. In many countries, the laws that govern the regulation and testing of conventional drugs do not apply to homeopathic remedies.
Claims of homeopathy's efficacy beyond the placebo effect are unsupported by the collective weight of scientific and clinical evidence. Supporters claim that studies published in reputable journals support the efficacy of homeopathy beyond the placebo effect; however, they are few, not definitive, and have not been independently replicated. Several high-quality studies exist showing no evidence for any effect from homeopathy, and the few studies which do show positive results for homeopathy have generally been shown to have problems that prevent them from being considered unambiguous evidence for homeopathy's efficacy.
Homeopathic remedies generally contain few or no pharmacologically active ingredients,[ and for such remedies to have pharmacological effect would violate fundamental principles of science. Modern homeopaths have proposed that water has a memory that allows homeopathic preparations to work without any of the original substance; however, the physics of water are well understood, and no known mechanism permits such a memory. The lack of convincing scientific evidence supporting homeopathy's efficacy and its use of remedies lacking active ingredients have caused homeopathy to be described as "pseudoscience" and (more plainly) as "quackery" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. and more recent writers.
Homeopathy Effectiveness
The effectiveness of homeopathy has been in dispute since its inception. One of the earliest double blind studies concerning homeopathy was sponsored by the British government during World War II in which volunteers tested the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies against diluted mustard gas burns. The methodological quality of the research base is generally low, with such problems as weaknesses in design or reporting, small sample size, and selection bias. No individual preparation has been unambiguously demonstrated to be different from a placebo. Further, as the quality of the trials become better, the evidence for homeopathy preparations being effective diminishes, and the highest-quality trials show that the remedies themselves have no effect. Abstract concepts within theoretical physics have been invoked to suggest explanations of how or why remedies might work, including quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity and chaos theory. However, the explanations are offered by nonspecialists within the field, and often include speculations which are incorrect in their application of the concepts and not supported by actual experiments
Alternative Medicine
In Western culture, alternative medicine is any healing practice "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine", or "that which has not been shown consistently to be effective." It is often opposed to evidence based medicine and encompasses therapies with an historical or cultural, rather than a scientific, basis. The American National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) cites examples including naturopathy, chiropractic, herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, hypnosis, homeopathy, acupuncture, and nutritional-based therapies, in addition to a range of other practices. It is frequently grouped with complementary medicine, which generally refers to the same interventions when used in conjunction with mainstream techniques, under the umbrella term complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM. Some researchers in alternative medicine oppose this grouping, preferring to emphasize differences of approach, but nevertheless use the term CAM, which has become standard.
