Page 14 - Winter 18-19

Resistance to
Homeopathy
by Richard Pitcairn,
DVM,PhD,USA (withthankstoAVHwhere this article first was first published)
i would like to explore with you this phenomenon, rather frequently encountered, of social and professional resistance to homeopathy. though homeopathic medicine has been in existence over 200 years and consistently shown effectiveness, it is still denied or ridiculed. Here is an example.
Ban Homeopathy From NHS, Say Doctors1
Homeopathic treatments should be banned from the NHS (National Health Service) and taken off pharmacy shelves designated for medicines, doctors said today.
Members of the British Medical Association said homeopathic remedies should be relegated to shelves “labelled placebos” and that NHS money should not be spent on treatments that are scientifically implausible.
Proposing the motion at the BMA’s annual representative meeting in Brighton Mary McCarthy, a GP from Shropshire, said homeopathic doctors claimed that it made people feel better. “Lots of things make you feel better – a sunny day, the smell of the sea, a hug, retail therapy,” she said.
“It can do harm by diverting patients from conventional medical treatments.”
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As shown in this extract, why is there such resistance to using homeopathy? Other forms of alternative treatment such as Chinese medicine, chiropractic, osteopathic manipulation, even use of herbs, have been accepted by some parts of our profession and one does not hear much criticism of their use. It is not the same for homeopathy.
That there is a resistance, yet not entirely an intellectual one, is apparent in looking at Chinese medicine which describes the use of needles and herbs and moxibustion as having effects on the chi which is an invisible, non- physical, energy that animates the body. That Chinese medicine, with this conceptual content of the chi is accepted while at the same time homeopathy is criticized for having the same idea of using medicines to alter the non-physical energy referred to as the life force of the patient, is not logical. Whenever you run into a situation like this, where the opposition is not logical, this indicates there is a deeper emotional component that is the true obstacle.
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it can do harm by diverting patients from conventional medical treatments.
“Homeopathy is not witchcraft, it is nonsense on stilts. It is
pernicious nonsense that feeds into a rising wave of
irrationality which threatens to overwhelm the hard-won
“We risk, as a society, slipping back into a state of magical thinking when made-up science passes for rational discourse and wishing for something to be true passes for proof.
gains of the enlightenment and the scientific method,” she said.