A Brief Comparison of Homeopathy and Conventional Medicine

All throughout man's civilization, medicine has played a very vital role in maintaining the health of people. In fact, shamans and medical figures were oftentimes occupying relatively high and significant positions in most ancient societies.  Up to now, people still put so much premium on medical professions. From crude concoctions to intensive medical procedures today, there is no doubt that man has developed his knowledge of medicine and medical treatments. However, the recent decades have seen mainstream regression towards more traditional and less invasive forms of medicine. One of them is homeopathy.

To delineate the differences between Homeopathy and Conventional Medicine, we must look into the main differences between the two according to:

I. Main Principles

Homeopathy

The main contention of homeopathy is that the treatment for an ill person is the same substance that can elicit symptoms of the disease to an otherwise healthy person. In this approach, both the physical and psychological states of the person are important in the selection of appropriate treatments.

Conventional Medicine

The main thesis of conventional medicine is that treatment can only be done to a person with disease. Otherwise, the person is healthy and requires no medical attention. 

II. Main philosophy

Homeopathy

In essence, homeopathy is a vitalist philosophy which regards diseases, disorders and sicknesses as products of disturbances in the life force or the vital force. Such disturbances are the host of symptoms that distinguish one disease from another. In this type of approach, it is believed that the life force has the capacity to adapt to both internal and external causes. This phenomenon is more popularly known as the law of susceptibility. These further states that a negative state of mind could attract miasms or hypothetical diseases. These miasms could enter the body and produce the symptoms of a particular disease. Apart from this law, there are other central philosophies to which homeopathy adheres to such as like cures like, the principle of single remedy and the principle of minimal dosage.

Conventional Medicine

Conventional medicine is evidence-based and does not believe in the life force. Instead, its main philosophy is that a specific type of disease has a single agent or cause, therefore the use of a single therapy is sufficient enough to neutralize the condition. This single therapy is oftentimes in the form of surgery or synthetic drug. This philosophy is called is the doctrine of specific etiology.

III. Common remedies

Homeopathy

This approach often turns to nature for medicinal remedies (at least the more popular and known homeopathic practices). Preparation of remedies is basically in the form of succusion and dilution. In developing remedies, homeopaths make use of two processes—potentisation and dynamisation.

Conventional Medicine

In sharp contrast with homeopathy, conventional medicine makes use of synthetic and highly invasive forms of treatments. Medicines are normally produced in the laboratory from naturally-occurring substances. Due to the advancements in laboratory and clinical research, there are already numerous processes used to develop medicines and medical treatments. Nonetheless, common treatments come in the form of medication and drugs, therapies and others.

Homeopathy and conventional medicine may be incomparable by nature. However, they have the same guiding purpose—to find and provide cure for diseases, disorders and abnormalities in health.