Homeopathy is a therapeutic system based on testing substances on healthy human volunteers, the result of 200 years of careful clinical observation. This has given rise to a set of clearly defined principles, which include:

• The similar remedy. In trials or “provings” of homeopathic remedies volunteers took repeated doses of remedies until symptoms appeared, and then painstakingly recorded all the changes in their physical, mental and emotional states. A remedy that produces a certain set of symptoms in a proving is capable of curing those symptoms in a sick person.

• The single remedy. All the information from provings comes from testing remedies singly, so only one remedy is given at a time.

• The minimum dose. Dr Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Homeopathy, sought the most effective dose with the fewest side effects. He developed the process of potentization, where a series of dilutions and succussions produces homeopathic remedies which are powerful yet gentle. The potentized remedy is given in the smallest dose needed to jump start the body’s healing response.