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Homeopathy - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Homeopathy : (noun)
1: a method of treating disease with small amounts of remedies
that, in large amounts in healthy people, produce
symptoms similar to those being treated [syn: homoeopathy]
[ant: allopathy]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Homeopathy : \Ho*me*op"a*thy\, n. [Gr. ? likeness of condition or
feeling; ? like (fr. ? same; cf. Same) _ ? to suffer: cf.
F. hom['e]opathie. See Pathos.] (Med.)
The art of curing, founded on resemblances; the theory and
its practice that disease is cured (tuto, cito, et jucunde)
by remedies which produce on a healthy person effects similar
to the symptoms of the complaint under which the patient
suffers, the remedies being usually administered in minute
doses. This system was founded by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, and
is opposed to allopathy, or heteropathy. [Written also
hom[oe]opathy.]
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Homeopathy : Homeopathy: A system of therapy based on the concept that disease can be treated with drugs (in minute doses) thought capable of producing the same symptoms in healthy people as the disease
itself.
Homeopathy was invented by the German substance . Hahnemann described this process of dilution as "potentizing" (German: "potenziert") the substance. These dilute amounts could then be used to
treat the very symptoms they were known to produce.
Hahnemann and his students approached their treatments in a holistic way, meaning that the whole of the body and spirit is dealt with, not just the localised disease. Hahnemann himself spent
extended periods of time with his patients, asking them questions that dealt not only with their particular symptoms or illness, but also with the details of their daily lives. It is also suggested
that the gentle approach of homeopathy was a reaction to the violent forms of medicine of the day, which included techniques such as bleeding.
According to homeopathy, symptoms are the body's way of fighting disease. Homeopathy teaches that symptoms are to be encouraged, by prescribing a "remedy" in minuscule doses that in large doses
would produce the same symptoms seen in the patient. These remedies are meant to stimulate the cure the illness, according to homeopathy.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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