appropriate to the ailment, and they advocate the
patient’s participation in his or her own healing.
Most types of alternative and complementary med-
icine, also known as integrative medicine, embrace
the concept of the patient as a biological, psycho-
logical, sociological whole (often documented as a
biopsychosocial profile), and treatments that also
include conventional medicine are geared to suit
the individual’s needs. Moreover, holistic medicine
seeks to prevent physical and emotional illness as
well as proactively maintain well-being. Organiza-
tions such as the American Holistic Nurses Associ-
ation, based in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the
American Holistic Medical Association, based in
McLean, Virginia, have been founded in order to
encourage health professionals to practice mind-
body medicine.
See also Appendix I.
holistic nursing See Appendix I; HOLISTIC MEDICINE.
Holmes, Ernest Author of The Science of Mind
(New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1988), a definitive
textbook and motivational reference on how one’s
attitude and emotions affect health and well-being.
homeopathy An alternative treatment system
based on the theory that “like cures like,” that if, is
a substance causes a symptom, it can conversely
cure it when taken in a highly diluted form or in
minute quantity. Remedies are made from plant,
animal, and mineral sources and are available at
health food stores and pharmacies. Recognized as a
scientific method of medicine, homeopathy was
developed in the late 18th century by the German
physician Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843), who
decided to focus on symptoms rather than on the
seemingly futile quest for causes. He observed that
symptoms of a disease could be induced in a healthy
individual by certain substances. The malaria rem-
edy cinchona, for example, could produce malaria-
like symptoms, Hahnemann observed, and he
experimented with numerous plant, mineral, and
animal substances on himself and other volunteers.
This “proving” procedure, as he called it, gave cre-
dence to the ancient idea that a substance could
both cause and cure symptoms, depending upon
the dosage and the patient’s overall condition. He
went on to develop potentized remedies: each sub-
stance was diluted many times until the preparation
contained only the essence of the original sub-
stance, thus making the remedy more powerful.
Hahnemann believed in the laws of nature and
incorporated them into his theories. Four basic
principles created the foundation of homeopathy
as a healing art and science: (1) similars cure simi-
lars; (2) a single remedy is used (one medication at
a time); (3) the minimal dose is used, and (4) the
potentized remedy is employed.
According to The People’s Repertory(Santa Fe,
N.M.: Full of Life Publishing, 1998) by Luc De
Schepper, M.D., Ph.D., C.Hom., D.I.Hom, L.Ac., “A
homeopathic remedy is an almost infinitesimally
small dose of a medication which—if given in a big-
ger dose to a healthy individual—would provoke
symptoms similar to those presented by the
patient. Western medical doctors often practice
‘unconscious’ homeopathy when they give vacci-
nations and allergy shots. In general, Western med-
ical treatment is successful when it follows this
important Law of Similars (to create a similar [not
the same] artificial ‘disease’ picture, not the disease
itself, but information about the disease which
helps the body to organize its defenses). As the
body’s vital energy pushes back like a rebound
effect against the ‘shadow disease’ created by the
remedy, it also pushes the actual disease from the
inside to the outside.” Vaccines and immunizations
to prevent various diseases and allergies engage the
Law of Similars by administering trace amounts of
a disease component, such as a virus, to promote
an antibody-producing immune response in the
body.
The basic concept of homeopathy, named from
the Greek words homoios, meaning “similar,” and
pathos, “suffering,” may be found in ancient med-
ical practices and now has a history of more than
200 years. In addition to the Law of Similars (like
cures like), Hahnemann, who was appalled by cer-
tain conventional methods of the time such as
bloodletting, the use of leeches, and purging with
high doses of mercury, lead, and other toxic sub-
stances, proposed the Law of the Infinitesimal
Dose, that the more a remedy is diluted, the greater
its potency, and that illness is specific to an individ-
ual—in sum, holistic medicine.56 holistic nursing