Homeopathy is one of the most controversial alternative medical therapies. It was developed by Samuel Hahnemann and is based on three main principles: the principle of similars, the vital force principle, and the principle of potentization, the last causing the most questions about whether homeopathy actually works. Double-blind randomized trials have been performed to test the efficacy of homeopathic treatments, but these give mixed results and are problematic for a variety of reasons. But however dubious, science, particularly quantum theory, gives potential reasons for why homeopathy does work well enough to keep it from being completely dismissed, despite serious efforts to do so.
The principle of similars employs the practice of using substances which in a healthy person would cause the symptoms experienced by the ill person. The vital force is the life force which is attached to any complex living organism. This principle also takes a person's mental and emotional aspect into account, these being considered as important as the physical symptoms. When physical, emotional, and mental states are in disharmony vital force is diminished and disease springs up; when in balance, disease cannot thrive. Potentization is considered the most controversial of all three principles. When a solution is potentized, it is drastically diluted and shaken forcibly between each dilution or succussion. The controversy arises because often none of the molecules of the original substance are still present in the solution. This implies that the healing occurs as a result of the placebo effect, and while more impressive than healing through medicine, for the intent of a trial the results are insufficient to say one way or another.
Testing efficacy through trial is difficult for homeopathic cures. As mentioned above, because the mixture usually contains no molecules of the original solution, it somewhat renders the question as a non-issue and creates a negative bias in the medical community. In addition, double blind randomized controlled trials (RCT) offer mixed results. A major premise of RCTs is that the medicine can be separated from its context. This is in synch with the reductionist method of allopathy which treats everything as its own individual bit, unrelated or connected to the whole. In other words, they assume that all factors do not commingle and affect one another. Of course we do not know that this is true and alternative medicine believes that everything does affect everything else. In fact it is believed that removing all context destroys the very http://www.alternativemedicalremedies.com/natural-herbal-remedies-4/ homeopathic effect that the trial is studying.
But assuming that it does work, then how is that possible given that the patient is not actually ingesting anything? It is believed and suggested by experiments, that water has a sort of memory. This implies that although the original substance may have been diluted to where all molecules has disappeared, the water has been imprinted with its essence and is therefore able to carry forward its healing properties. This is similar to how people who have meaningful interactions change one another even when they are no longer in each other's company. Then, given that water is the most easily absorbed solution, the energy of the substance is then directly transferred into the cells changing their energy and it is this change of energy that creates the healing.
In addition, quantum theory also has potential explanations for why homeopathy may be possible. Entanglement is the process of transferring information instantly from one part of a system to
another. At the quantum level, all possible expressions of molecular arrangements are possible. As the solution is being made, the properties of the substance are instantly "memorized" by the water molecules, collapsing all possible futures to one particular manifestation. In addition to this particular effect, the order in which all actions are performed, further influence and determine all possible and actual manifestations. From creating the mixture, to the order of who does what and when, the context which allopathy dismisses, is what actually determines the outcome rather than the one act of creating a very diluted mixture.
So while, the medical industry may believe that whether homeopathy works is a non-issue at best and total quackery at worst, quantum theory seems to offer a nice alternative solution to that question.
References
Milgrom, Lionel. Is homeopathy possible? The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion
of Health. (2006, September). Retrieved 10/01/2013, from
www.evergladesuniversity.org. Document URL:http://search.proquest.com.ezp-02.lirn.net/docview/231209457/140E53C4D77...
