What is homeopathy?

From the news of BBC in 2015, the NHS of United Kingdom was going to move homeopathy to the blacklist, meaning NHS will no longer pay for it.

However, it was the first time I've heard of homeopathy. What is it?

According to Wikipedia, Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, based on his doctrine of like cures like (similia similibus curentur), a claim that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people would cure similar symptoms in sick people.

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. Source: Wikipedia

The explanation sounds kind of hard to comprehend. For example, if you are allergic to pollens, most of the doctors will prescribe antihistamine. However, the doctors who practice homeopathy, they will give you some solutions which is consisted of diluted pollen. The factor of dilution is usually 10¹², some will even dilute to 10⁶⁰!

Although homeopathy was created by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the concept -- like cure like -- was originated created by Hippocrates in 400 B.C. For treating mania, Hippocrates will prescribe a small dose of mandrake root. However, mandrake root will produce mania in much larger doses.

According to modern search, doctors found that the effect of homeopathy is not significant comparing to placebo. Because NHS of Great Britain had paid 4 million pounds to homeopathy, so the test results brought serious consideration for not including homeopathy anymore.

The word "homeopathy" clearly explained the concept of this treatment. When we take this word apart, it becomes homeo- and -pathy.

The prefix homeo- is the same as home-. It is originated from Greek homoios, meaning like, resembling. In addition to homeo-, there is another prefix hom(o)-, which we learned in Lesson 16-2. It is originated from Greek word homos, meaning common, same.

The suffix -pathy is also having a Greek origin. It is written as pathos in Greek, meaning feeling, suffering, emotion, disorder or disease. We will learn that in Lesson 23-1.

When we put together these two words, then it become like cures like. Isn't it interesting?

References:

Wikipedia. Homeopathy，Samuel Hahnemann
Oneline Etymology Dictionary. Homeopathy
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary.
2015/11/13. James Gallagher. Homeopathy 'could be blacklisted'. BBC.
中文課程：順勢療法（Homeopathy）

順勢療法（homeopathy）

不知道大家聽過「順勢療法」（homeopathy）嗎？根據2015年BBC的新聞，英國正在考慮要把順勢療法列入黑名單（blacklist）。一旦列入黑名單，醫生就不能再提供病人這種治療方式了。

筆者查了一下，發現順勢療法又稱為「同類療法」，是另類醫療（alternative medicine）的一種。順勢療法是在1796年，由德國的山姆·赫尼曼醫師（Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann）提出，認為可以用相同的物質稀釋許多倍後，來治療相同的疾病。也就是所謂的「以同治同」（like cures like）的概念。

山姆‧赫尼曼醫師。圖片來源：wiki

怎麼治療呢？例如對於花粉熱的患者，順勢療法就會把花粉拿來稀釋10¹²倍之後，再加入糖錠服用。有些，甚至會稀釋到10⁶⁰倍！

不過，順勢療法雖然是由赫尼曼醫師提出，但它的概念則是早在公元前四百年就由希波克拉提斯（Hippocrates）所提出了。希波克拉提斯會使用小量的茄參根（mandrake root）來治療狂躁症；當時已知服用大量會導致狂躁，以小量來治療就是順勢療法的概念。

不過，近代醫學試驗卻發現，順勢療法的療效跟安慰劑差不多；或許就是因此，最近又有反對將順勢療法列入治療方式的聲浪。過去在英國的公醫系統，已經付出了大約四百萬英鎊給順勢療法的醫院與處方簽。

不過，病人對順勢療法的滿意度似乎一直都高於正規療法。目前歐美也還有不少國家，將順勢療法列為保險給付的項目之一。

而它的英文名稱homeopathy就是源自於「以同治同」的概念。怎麼說呢？

homeopathy可以拆開成homeo- 與 -pathy兩個部分。

其中的homeo-其實是home- ，源自於希臘文的homoios；就是類似、相似（like, resembling）的意思。

除了homeo-以外，還有另一個字首hom- （或hom(o)-，參考第十六課（二））是來自於希臘文的homos。hom-這個字首是相同（common, same）的意思。

而-pathy也是來自於希臘文的pathos。在希臘文的原意是疾病、感覺（feeling, suffering, emotion; disorder, disease，參考第二十三課（一））。

拼起來，homeopathy就成了順勢療法了。其實或許翻譯為「同類療法」比較恰當呢！

參考文獻：

Wikipedia. Homeopathy, 順勢療法，Samuel Hahnemann
Oneline Etymology Dictionary. Homeopathy
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary.
2015/11/13. James Gallagher. Homeopathy 'could be blacklisted'. BBC.