Homeopathic vs Allopathic Approaches

© 2009 Dr. Peter J. Prociuk, M.D. All Rights Reserved

A brief discussion of the basis of allopathic or conventional medicine will make an understanding of homeopathy and the Principle of Similars easier. “Allopathic” is a word derived from Greek and essentially means “against the disease” or “contrary to the disease”. Conventional medicines act opposite to the illness. For example, if an illness results in an increased acid secretion in the stomach, a conventional  medicine would  inhibit acid secretion. If a patient suffers from depression or anxiety, the aim would be to raise the serotonin level, which is often low in these patients. If a patient is in pain, a drug is given to suppress the experience of pain,  and so on. Although the methods of symptom suppression were very crude in Hahnemann’s time, the allopathic treatment principles were the same as they are today. Very evident to Dr. Hahnemann and other observant people is this approach never results in the resolution of the underlying illness, and it sometimes makes it worse. He was ardent in his desire to discover a method by which he could arouse the natural healing power of the body, and not to simply continue suppressing symptoms.

We have to give some thought about what healing really is. The healing of a scratch, however minor, involves the perfect coordination of trillions of individual biochemical reactions and cellular interactions between elements of the blood, lymph and tissues of the skin. This happens perfectly and expeditiously every time and will never be duplicated in a laboratory. This process cannot be attributed to any one organ system or cellular element. It is controlled and maintained by the intelligent life force within the organism which controls and maintains all the functions of the body.  Hahnemann realized illness occurs when this is too weak to maintain a healthy state.


Homeopathic remedies act in the same way as the action of an illness.  This seems to defy common sense but the success of millions of prescriptions over 200+ years is powerful testimony.  Hahnemann’s objective was to find a means to arouse the natural healing instinct of the body.  He discovered that when a remedy, whose action exactly or nearly exactly matches the action of the illness, it effected such an arousal.  Consider a simple example from everyday life:  when first looking into a mirror in the morning you are confronted with a disheveled image of yourself.  This instinctively awakens the desire to do groom yourself and improve your state.  If you were confronted with an image of yourself looking your best there would be no such arousal.  Similarly, when the organism is confronted with a stimulus that is similar to its illness, an arousal to heal occurs. 


The guide to a successful prescription is a detailed study of the symptoms on all levels that an illness produces. Hahnemann understood that symptoms are actually an expression of the effort a sick body is making in the attempt to heal itself. In the case of a chronic illness, the effort is incomplete, and the patient suffers symptoms that wax and wane, but never completely resolve.  As time goes on they gradually worsen. If symptoms are seen as an expression of self- healing, the approach to simply suppress a symptom amounts to suppressing the vital energy of the body. This type of treatment over time will inevitably lead to decreased health, and the need for more medicines to deal with a growing number of symptoms.

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