Imagine you’ve had an argument with your partner, would you rather talk to a friend who knows exactly how you are feeling or someone who never argues and although sympathetic doesn’t really understand?

This isn’t just stating the obvious, but demonstrates a truth we often take for granted.

Centuries ago the philosopher Aristotle recognised it in the concept of catharsis. When feelings and emotions were acted out on stage, he said, this would create a cathartic or healing effect on those in the audience who were suffering from a similar emotional turmoil.

What has this to do with alternative medicine? Well, a lot, actually. Homeopathy has a theoretical understanding about how living things thrive and become healthy. When we are out of balance we produce a set of reactions which we call symptoms.

After an argument, for example, we react with feelings of outrage, sadness, guilt, hurt, and so on. When we talk to the friend who understands how upset we are, the intensity of the feelings diminishes quite quickly. By the end of the conversation our emotional balance has probably re-established itself and we feel much better.

Suppose it’s not an argument but a spoiled piece of meat that unbalances us. In just the same way we produce, in response, a set of symptoms that are aimed at resolving the crisis for us. We are sick and nauseous and have no appetite. So no further food enters the digestive tract. Our bowels empty and we vomit until none of the poisonous food is retained. We remain delicate for a while longer, giving the digestion time to repair and return to full working order.

But what, in this situation, is the understanding friend helping us to a rapid resolution of our symptoms? Hahnemann discovered this to be the homeopathic remedy based on the observation noted above that like cures like. Anything that can produce a set of symptoms similar to food poisoning would help our sufferer recover more quickly and without further complications. He took a well-known emetic, Arsenic, (widely used in his day as a medicine) and attenuated the dose beyond even the attenuation found in modern vaccinations and discovered that he could help the patient to a rapid recovery.

Because like cures like, homeopathy can offer a safe, effective, gentle means of helping people recover their health.

So why is such a simple idea so controversial and greeted with such scepticism?

There are a couple of problems. The first one is that the dose is so diluted that scientists cannot accept that there can be any therapeutic effect and put any positive outcomes down to a placebo effect. Whilst the placebo effect undoubtedly contributes to some positive outcomes there remains a significant number of outcomes that cannot be explained in this way, not least among plants, animals and babies.

In 1989 The International Journal of Veterinary Homeopathy reported on the successful use of Barium Carbonicum LMII with a combination of Calcium Carbonate LMI and Calcium Phosphoricum LMII to increase the weight of pigs with retarded growth . In 1995 the British Homeopathic Journal reported on a successful experiment by Searcy, Reyes and Guajardo using a homeopathic combination remedy to control subclinical bovine mastitis . And in 1996 Guarjardo and Searcy together with Soto-Avilo demonstrated the growth promoting effects of Sulphur 200C in pigs, as reported in the British Homeopathic Journal of that year .

There is increasing evidence from scientists themselves that highly diluted substances have a demonstrable effect. In Germany researchers used a highly diluted form of dichlorophenol to see if it would affect the bacterium Vibrio Fischeri. The result showed an inhibitory effect that was statistically significant.

Also in Europe a group of scientists have shown that highly diluted histamine significantly affects basophil cells, the cells which release histamine into the blood stream causing hayfever type symptoms.

Our second problem is that homeopathy cannot be fitted into the randomised controlled trial, the gold standard for establishing the efficacy of pharmaceutical drugs. There is an inescapable conflict between the two. Medicine classifies diseases and fits patients into their disease category; homeopathy identifies the differences between patients even if they are apparently suffering from the same disease. It would be remarkable if a homeopathic remedy showed any effect when misused in this way. However, despite this, since 1991 there have been six published meta-analyses of homeopathic RCTs, and all but one conclude (with some qualifications) that homeopathy has an effect greater than that of placebo . Also since 1997 meta-analyses of trials of homeopathic treatment in four specific conditions, childhood diarrhoea, hayfever, post-operative ileus, and rheumatoid arthritis, have show the treatments to be effective.

Being treated homeopathically opens up a world of understanding about why we get ill and how we recover. For many this experience has changed their perspective on life.

Susan came to see us here at Marlow Homeopathy because she had asthma. It started after she’d had glandular fever at seventeen and was now much worse. She’d also had childhood eczema until her teens, though she had no idea when it first appeared. She was a bright, bubbly girl of twenty-five who was starting to worry about her health. When asked about her history she said her father had left when she was nine months and her mother had remarried soon after. She was close to her stepfather, but when she was sixteen he left too. After university she returned to her hometown and got a job. Her boyfriend moved with her, but it hadn’t worked out, and they agreed to split up last year.

Also in Europe a group of scientists have shown that highly diluted histamine significantly affects basophil cells, the cells which release histamine into the blood stream causing hayfever type symptoms.

Susan learned a lot from her treatment. She hadn’t realised the effect that events had had on her and that her vitality, in charge of keeping her as healthy as possible, had manifested those effects physically to protect her emotionally. Homeopaths know that the healing force always acts in its best interest and will produce symptoms at the safest level it can, protecting the mind at all costs. This explains why emotional stress often causes physical symptoms. Susan left with her health restored and much greater consideration for herself.

Peter came because he was depressed and lethargic, so much so that he’d given up a promising career as a fashion designer. He was getting worse and nothing was helping. His parents were angry and told him to pull himself together. They had brought him up to be strong and couldn’t understand why he was wallowing in self-pity.

The symptoms started after a motor bike accident. He had been thrown over the handlebars, but was apparently unharmed. He got back on his bike and rode on.

He was given Arnica, a remedy for long lasting effects of shock and trauma. When he returned he said that for a week after the remedy he’d suffered a lot of soreness which became severe at times but he refused painkillers and saw it through. After a week he started to feel much better and by the time of his next appointment he was almost well.

Peter realised that his mind had refused to let him suffer the normal shock and bruising that would have seen him recover in a few days or weeks. Instead he had pulled himself together, suppressed the shock and internalised his injuries resulting in his slow mental breakdown. He learned a valuable lesson in respecting and caring for himself as a result of his experience with homeopathy.

When we listen to our instincts and realise that symptoms are just an outward expression of an inner disorder we learn a lot about ourselves. An example of this is the next case history.

Julie came with bad headaches. It was a mystery since no one in her family suffered from them. She was very relaxed with no particular stress in her life. She had seen a specialist who said there was nothing wrong.

Because the headaches were worse at night and made her restless, and because she had a peculiar symptom of a metallic taste in her mouth when she had them, she was given the remedy Mercury or Quick-silver.

When she came back for her next appointment she reported that the headaches were the same, although oddly, she had suddenly became aware that artificial sweeteners were probably not good for her. She had used them for many years and had never thought about it but now, having stopped them, the headaches had gone away, although they returned as bad as ever if she used the sweeteners again.

Julie was not convinced the remedy had helped but agreed it was a strange coincidence that after she took it she should get the insight about the sweeteners.

Everyone’s experience of treatment is different but most people agree that recovering from a condition you feared was permanent is a life changing and life learning event.