collaborative post // Homeopathy and holistic medicine are two different methods of treatment, with different goals and philosophies. One is based on the idea that the body can heal itself if given the right environment, while the other is based on the idea that all illness comes from an imbalance in the body’s energy system and can be treated by using tele medicine.
Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplash
Here are 16 differences between homeopathy and holistic medicine:
1. Homeopathy is a medical practice that uses diluted doses of plant, mineral, and animal extracts to treat patients. Holistic medicine is also rooted in natural remedies, but it’s more focused on the whole body rather than just one specific ailment. Both practices seek to cure ailments by treating the root cause of disease, not just its symptoms.
2. Holistic medicine is often used as an adjunctive treatment for serious illnesses like cancer or AIDS. It can also be used as a preventative measure, such as taking vitamins or minerals to help ward off illness before it starts. Homeopathy is typically used to treat less severe conditions like colds or allergies, though some people use it as an alternative treatment for cancer or AIDS as well.
3. Both homeopathy and holistic medicine are based on the principle that there are natural compounds that can help your body heal itself when you’re sick. Because they’re both focused on natural healing methods, they’re often confused with each other—but they’re actually very different!
4. Homeopathy works by giving you small doses of something that causes symptoms similar to those you have, while holistic medicine works by giving you small doses of something healthy (like an herb).
5. Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine while holistic medicine is considered complementary or integrative medicine.
6. Homeopathy focuses on treating rather than curing disease, while holistic medicine focuses more on curing disease than just treating it.
7. Holistic medicine treats both physical and mental health conditions while homeopathy treats only mental health conditions (it does not consider mental health conditions to be a part of physical health).
8. Holistic medicine seeks to balance your body’s energy system so it can heal itself naturally over time; homeopathy seeks to treat symptoms alone.
9. Holistic medicine is based on the idea that the body is a whole, and focusing on one symptom or issue is not enough to treat a patient. The goal of holistic medicine is to treat all aspects of a person’s life and health, not just the symptoms or disease itself.
10. Homeopathy is based on the idea that “like cures like,” and it uses very small amounts of highly diluted substances to stimulate the body’s natural healing response. People who practice homeopathy believe that diseases have a root cause that needs to be addressed before they can be cured—and that addressing this root cause will help heal other issues related to the disease as well.
11. Holistic medicine relies heavily on nutrition and diet as an important part of treatment and prevention; homeopathy does not include any specific dietary recommendations in its treatment plans for patients.
12. Both therapies are considered complementary—they are used together with conventional Western medicine, not instead of it—and both practitioners believe that their work should be done without interfering with conventional medical treatment (unless necessary).
13. Both therapies focus on treating the whole person rather than just their symptoms or diseases; however, holistic practitioners tend to use more “hands-on” techniques such as massage and acupuncture while homeopaths.
14. Holistic medicine sees itself as an alternative to Western medical practices; homeopathy sees itself as complementary to Western medical practices (meaning it can be used alongside standard treatments).
15. Holistic medicine includes physical therapies like massage therapy or acupuncture; homeopathy does not include any physical therapies at all (although patients may report feeling better after getting treatment.
Bottomline
The discussion about the validity of alternative medicines will likely rage on for years to come, but until that time, we can at least try to understand what makes them different. This article doesn’t seek to settle any disputes. Instead, it holds up homeopathy and holistic medicine as two of the leading examples of alternative therapies to illustrate the differences between them. And in a nutshell, they are quite different.
Author bio: Dr. Lorie Poston is a nurse practitioner with over a decade of experience in medicine. She is a dual board certified as a Family and an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care nurse practitioner and now operates Telehealth Care Florida
I would like to point out that #2 and #7 seem to be at odds with each other concerning Homeopathy. I take homeopathic remedies for physical disturbances such as candida, detoxing from aluminum, allergies, tooth pain, etc. So Homeopathy does treat physical symptoms, often very quickly!
I also think #13 ended short but missing something.
I love this and will reblog! Thank you for this brilliant yet brief information.
Interesting! I’ve been looking into this more lately. I recently suffered from a severe electrolyte deficiency and my chiropractor was actually the one that diagnosed me as my regular docs just wanted to run a ton of tests. She tested me and figured it out in 2 minutes. It was interesting when I looked at the reviews for the supplements she gave me… everyone was saying ‘my chiropractor recommended…’