Homeopathics are widely used for prevention as well. Currently, an entire ongoing study design in Germany is based on testing homeopathics for their prophylactic effects. But wait – can there even be homeopathic prophylaxis? As always, let’s examine this question by looking at the homeopathic teachings of Hahnemann himself, and not wipe the matter off the table by saying that homeopathy has no effect anyway.
What is homeopathy’s model of health and disease? We have often explained that it knows neither disease names (typified diseases) nor causes of disease. The whole thought structure with similarity principle, individual symptom bundle, disgruntled spiritual life force, regulating spiritual medicine force is a fundamentally different model of illness and recovery than what today underlies the successes of science-based medicine. And science knows that this pre-scientific model must be wrong, its foundations have been disproved many times and this will not change. What is conclusively disproved today cannot suddenly become true tomorrow.
And how is this supposed to happen in homeopathy?
The “suitable remedy” is supposed to cause an “artificial disease” in the body of the sick person, which is similar to the disease to be treated. The artificial disease should somehow be “stronger in the agent (essence)” than the actual disease, but nevertheless symptomatically weaker (Hahnemann has assumed this, but nowhere explained why this should be so).
A crucial point here: it is part of Hahnemann’s teaching that two similar diseases can never be present in one body at the same time, one must “extinguish” the other. Now we are getting closer to the matter …
Always provided that the “right” remedy has been found, the artificial disease “stronger in the agent” should then displace the original disease – and then in turn disappear. But if one is wrong with the remedy – this has already become clear to us in other contexts – the remedy has a symptom-triggering effect – i.e. “pathogenic”. Fortunately, all this is nonsensical!
In this “system” the basic condition is that an actually existing disease, a disgruntled spiritual life force, recognized by the individual symptom bundle, is present in the patient. Only then the “spiritual medicinal power” could find its “opponent” as a kind of regulative of the “detuned spiritual life force” causing the disease and produce its “effect”.
From this it necessarily follows that homoeopathic prophylaxis on the healthy is simply not possible. The prophylactic administration of remedies to a patient who is not ill at all would then alone have to produce the artificial disease and thus trigger symptoms – this is what happens in a homeopathic drug trial. Thus, according to homeopathic doctrine, one makes the patient ill at best, one gives a remedy in a healthy phase that is supposed to prevent “future” illnesses.
For this reason, prophylaxis is completely foreign to homeopathy; by definition, it cannot exist. Also the constant comparisons of homoeopathy with vaccination would be finished thereby.
One may be astonished that under the direction of leading homeopaths expensive studies on prophylaxis via homeopathy are carried out, as is actually happening at the moment …