The nature of illness

Homeopathy views illness very differently from conventional medicine.

The conventional view of illness, which we are all very accustomed to, is based around a very mechanistic understanding of the human body. We are all considered to be constructed like a plumbing system, with various organs linked together with pipes. In such a view, if one pump, or one pipe, or one organ becomes defective, it can be simply replaced, and the whole system continues to run smoothly.

Whilst Homeopaths agree that this is a very effective system of treatment for a plumbing system, it is not so effective for the human body.

The human body is not a plumbing system. It is more than the sum of various parts plumbed together. There are chemical links, electrical links, and some would argue, energetic links between all the parts of the body. For example, the Chinese system of acupuncture acknowledges that there are energy meridians that flow along many channels in the body. Conventional medicine has no explanation for such energy flows.

Bearing in mind such complex connectivity between the various parts of the body, it is incredibly naive to assume that an organ or body part can be simply replaced or cut out without affecting the whole of the rest of the body. Nevertheless, this is how conventional medicine treats symptoms.

Homeopaths feel that since all the parts of the body are intricately connected, you must treat the integrated whole, not the isolated symptom. By prescribing on the patient's complete picture, their entire symptomatology, and their entire personality and characteristics, real health improvements are possible.