Discourse On The Evidence Of The Power Of Small Doses And Attenuated Medicines Including A Theory Of Potentization Read Before The Hom Opathic Society Of New York Etc

This volume includes the full Health Technology Assessment (HTA) report on effectiveness, appropriateness, safety and costs of homoeopathy in health care. The report was commissioned by the Swiss health authorities to inform decision-making on the further inclusion of homoeopathy in the list of services covered by statutory health insurance. Other studies carried out as part of the Swiss Complementary Medicine Evaluation Programme (PEK) caused a massive stir due to their schematic and exclusively quantitative (negative-)outcomes for homoeopathy. The present report, in contrast, offers a differentiated evaluation of the practice of homoeopathy in health care. It confirms homoeopathy as a valuable addition to the conventional medical landscape – a status it has been holding for a long time in practical health care.

The explosion of information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has demanded the attention of health professionals and responsible consumers, in cluding the elderly. Increasingly, medical schools are providing education about CAM. This book brings together for academicians and interested mainstream practitio ners much of the current information on CAM and its role in the health of the elderly. The individual chapters are thoroughly researched and quite readable, even for patients and the lay public concerned with the state of the evidence and art supporting CAM's role in prevention and management of illness and well-being. This book provides edu cators with much necessary information needed to prepare coursework and learning activities. Although definitive data are lacking regarding efficacy and even safety of CAM methodologies, many chapters in this book summarize the existing evidence in a us able way. The topics analyzed range from well-accepted therapies, such as vitamin E for dementia and zinc tablets for the common cold, to far less conventional therapies such as transcendental meditation. The conclusions are often surprising, but well-presented and defended. Even the most highly controversial areas, such as the use of acupuncture to treat low back pain and osteoarthritis of the knee, are thoroughly and fairly re viewed. Finally, the chapters address some of the political issues that challenge CAM. These issues include who should be allowed to practice a CAM discipline whose efficacy is not based on the scientific method, and some of the state-to-state variations in prac tice standards and licensure.

As increasing numbers of people turn to alternative healing practices, this classic text on the science and art of homeopathic medicine remains ever relevant. Written at the turn of the twentieth century by a distinguished physician, its concepts of health and healing are still ahead of our time. Dr. Kent summarizes, interprets, and systematizes the traditions of homeopathy, offering insights into the essential characteristics of the healing process: how to take a case history, how to study the case, how to establish the hierarchy of symptoms in determining the appropriate remedy--and above all, how to decide what to do after the first prescription, how to interpret the many reactions to therapy, and how to achieve a scientific understanding of a cure. This informative volume is must reading for any student or practitioner of homeopathy as well as any individual seriously interested in understanding the fundamental laws of health and healing.