A Different Approach to Health

 

Homeopathy recognizes that symptoms of illness are expressions of disharmony or dis-ease, within the whole person and that it is the person and not the illness that needs treatment. When a person is unwell or under stress, their body attempts to restore balance, a process in which symptoms are displayed for example, painful joints; headache; skin eruptions etc. Viewed in this way, symptoms can be seen as the external effects of the internal fight to get well.

 

The World Health Organisation defines health as a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being, not just the absence of disease.

 

In homeopathy health is seen as a fluid, dynamic thing which is not just about the individual but about how that individual interacts and responds to their environment. The body and mind naturally tend towards a state of health and they are constantly trying to maintain a functional balance. For example; shivering when cold, sleeping when tired or producing a fever to burn off an infection.

 

Problems arise when this natural tendency for maintaining balance is hindered in some way for a variety of reasons, such as ongoing stress, environmental pollution, or hereditary influences. The degree to which a person is vulnerable to outside influences is known as their susceptibility.

 

In homeopathy the dis-ease is seen as the symptoms of the problem rather than the problem itself. The aim is to remove the cause so that the body can restore natural balance and get on with the process of healing itself.

 

Hahnemann had a very clear and humane approach to the practice of medicine:
‘The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles”.
(Samuel Hahnemann, Organon of Medicine)