Alternative Medicine - Homeopathic Remedies and Placebo Effect
Does alternative medicine work or are homeopathic remedies just the placebo effect?
The placebo effect has been used by many as the reason for results from homeopathic remedies. The placebo effect is a known effect of people believing that something will work. In studies, people's conditions will actually improve even if they are just taking a sugar pill (placebo). The placebo effect is even further expanded by what the pill looks like. We at UBHN don't think so. Homeopathic remedies work in such a way that they aren't easily explained. The mental aspect of homeopathic remedies is very important.
Homeopathic remedies work by treating mind and body as one. The mind must be ingrained in the process just as it would be in the betterment of the body due to the placebo effect.
The placebo effect is greater in larger pills and pills that have some kind of color. Some studies have determined that homeopathic remedies only work because of the placebo effect. Is it true then, that homeopathic remedies only work for those who believe in them like the placebo effect? Are they members only cures?
There are things we simply don't know about the way things work. A large part of homeopathic remedies is the dilution into water of the substances. Many people have tried to prove the placebo effect wrong by proving a theory of "water memory." Homeopathic remedies are diluted into water almost to the point of disappearance of the substance. Scientists are trying to prove that the water somehow takes on properties of the substance that was diluted in it. Others who are against homeopathic remedies and believe the placebo effect are skeptical.
The thing that everyone is missing here is the way homeopathic remedies work. Homeopathic remedies don't work in the way allopathic (normal medicine) processes work. Homeopathic remedies are an entirely different experience. They seek to restore the fullness of the body by adding substances that cause similar effects of the symptoms seen in the subject. The brain works in such a mysterious way that we still don't fully understand it. To claim that homeopathic remedies are simply a creation brought on by the placebo effect is closed minded at best.
Homeopathic remedies work. It has been seen in many people all over the world that homeopathic remedies work. The placebo effect is the brain taking control of the body and helping it to heal itself. Isn't that what homeopathic remedies try to do? So, it would be obvious that the results would look similar to the placebo effect.
The AMA and allopathic doctors have been trying to prove homeopathic remedies to be the placebo effect for 200 years. However, people still use and swear by homeopathic remedies. Some homeopathic remedies work simply. They replace what the body needs. They take the symptoms that are meant to heal the body and enhance their effects. The placebo effect may be real in some cases but it isn't true for the entirety of homeopathic remedies. It is the same in allopathic remedies. Some of them are eventually proven not to work but that doesn't invalidate the entire practice. In truth, who cares whether something is the placebo effect or not. If it is making people better without pumping them full of antibiotics, I'll take the placebo effect any day.