Basic information

The society was founded in November 1988 and is based in Wiesbaden. At that time, its founding members were of the opinion that homeopathy was not sufficiently represented professionally in Germany. The strong commitment of the founding members ensured that homeopathy gained strength at a political level in the 1990s and paved the way for the implementation of homeopathy in our healthcare system.

Hahnemann Association consists of full members and supporting members.

All full members are doctors. The prerequisite for full membership in the Hahnemann Association is the full-time professional use of homeopathy and at least five years of full-time use of homeopathy.

Anyone who wants to support the aims of the statutes and help us can become a supporting member of Hahnemann Association. It's easier together.

The objectives of Hahnemann Association are to promote public health. This is achieved through the promotion of science and research in the field of homeopathy . Internationally, our members follow the homeopathic scientific community around the world to keep abreast of trends, developments and new research findings and to provide assessments and opinions.

Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a medicinal therapy method.

The methodology of homeopathy can be found in its basic work, the "Organon of the Art of Healing" by Hahnemann S. Organon der Heilkunst. 6th ed. Leipzig: Schwabe; 1921.

Homeopathy is obligatory divided into the following four main steps:

1. List of the patient's symptoms
2. List of symptoms of the remedy
3. Matching of both lists of symptoms via Similia Similibus Curentur
4. Single dose

In connection with his clinical experience, Hahnemann developed a special method of preparing remedies. The potentization.

5. Potentization optional

In-depth explanations:

Obligatory:

1. List of symptoms of the remedy

The list of symptoms of the patient is obtained from the information in the medical history, the physical examination findings, laboratory tests, imaging procedures, etc. The symptoms of the patient are recorded as completely as possible. The patient's symptoms are recorded as completely as possible. This means that the location (with extent), the sensation(e.g. pulling, stabbing, biting pain...), modalities(improvement or worsening according to location, time or circumstances) and accompanying complaints are also recorded. Finding characteristic symptoms that differentiate a specific case of illness from others is essential for a good homeopathic prescription. This is where the methodology differs from conventional medical training, where the unifying factor, the similarity, is sought and researched.

2. List of symptoms of the remedy
   The list of symptoms of the remedies is obtained through the homeopathic remedy proving HAMP on healthy people. The substances to be tested are taken by healthy volunteers and their mental, emotional and physical reactions and changes are observed and recorded. It is a tradition in homeopathy that homeopathic physicians research the remedies together with their patients. HAMPs are at the high level of clinical drug trials. This means that they must fulfill certain requirements. For example, they require a vote by an ethics committee, an investigator with a qualification for drug trials and documentation of adverse drug events. They must also be placebo-controlled and blinded.

3. Matching the two symptom lists
   The patient's symptom list from the homeopathic case history is compared with the many symptom lists of the remedies that have already been researched in HAMP.
   The patient is then given the remedy whose list of symptoms is most similar to his individual list of symptoms. Prescriptions are made on the basis of the observation that a homeopathic preparation cures exactly those complaints that it canalso cause when taken by healthy people. The physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) first observed this correlation, then recognized its laws and systematically researched them. He formulated the rule of similars: "Similia Similibus Curentur"(Let similar things be curedby similar things) in the preface to the "Organon of the Art of Healing". In addition to "Contraria Contrariis Curentur", this healing principle was mentioned again and again historically, for example in the Corpus Hippocrates(Hippocrates of Kos, 460 BC - around 370 BC) and Paracelsus (Theophrast von Hohenheim, 1493-1541). It is to Hahnemann's credit that he systematically researched this healing principle and made it practically usable for us doctors through his research results.

4. Single dose of a remedy
   If the remedy that is most similar to the patient's list of symptoms is differentiated, then this is prescribed in a single dose. The organism is given time to react to the administration and the dynamics of the course of treatment, characterized by symptoms, are subsequently observed.

Optional:

5. Potentization
   The results of Samuel Hahnemann's research led to the development of special homeopathic preparation instructions for remedies. These manufacturing instructions can be found in the Organon of the Art of Healing, 6th edition, the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia HAB and the European Pharmacopoeia Ph.Eur., the latter two being part of the pharmacopoeia according to §55 of the German Medicines Act (AMG). These manufacturing regulations describe the process of potentization, i.e. the step-by-step dilution of the individual starting substances of homeopathic preparations with the respective shaking (burping of a solution).

Excursus: If homeopathic remedies are not prescribed according to these steps, it is not homeopathy, even if homeopathic remedies are used!

These are, for example, Schüssler salts, complex remedies, indication homeopathy (homeopathy selected for specific diseases such as hay fever, cough, headache...). In these procedures, homeopathic preparations are used according to other rules of action that do not correspond to homeopathy. Ultimately, these procedures developed from the need to simplify the large field of homeopathic research.

For example, Schüssler's biochemical homeopathy method uses only 27 homeopathic preparations with a manageable range of indications. This contrasts with over 7000 homeopathic remedies, the number of which is increasing worldwide. As understandable as this need for simplification is, it significantly restricts the therapeutic possibilities of homeopathy applied "lege artis", especially in the treatment of chronically ill patients. Such abbreviated application systems do not implement the research findings of the founder of homeopathy and are therefore by definition not homeopathy. They merely use homeopathic substances according to other application systems.

The preparation of homeopathic remedies is anchored in the Organon of the Art of Healing, 6th edition, in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia HAB and in the European Pharmacopoeia Ph.Eur. The HAB and the Ph.Eur. are part of the pharmacopoeia according to §55 of the German Medicines Act (AMG). This means that the manufacturing regulations for homeopathic remedies are both pharmaceutically and legally regulated and fixed. As part of European harmonization, the manufacturing regulations of the HAB are increasingly being incorporated into the Ph.Eur.

In preparation for the academization of homeopathy at universities, we have been organizing and developing the pilot course in homeopathy, the three-month course, for over 30 years. In it, we explore innovative didactics, practice modern methodology and give ourselves the freedom to implement exciting teaching concepts at a high level. It is the flagship of homeopathy training in German-speaking countries. Many good homeopathic doctors have emerged from it. Many of them later became lecturers themselves, and many were involved in research and science. The three-month course, Intensive Homeopathy Course, provides Hahnemann Association researchers with the experimental basis for educational research in homeopathic teaching.

As a member of the Society for Medical Education GMA, Hahnemann Association uses this platform to exchange and network internationally with colleagues who are involved in educational research in medicine.

The intensive homeopathy course - the three-month course - has been held in Wiesbaden since 2018. Before that, it was held at the Irmgard Bosch Education Center of the Robert Bosch Stiftung in Stuttgart. The Robert Bosch Stiftung sponsored the three-month course in 2015 and donated the teaching library for the three-month course. There, we tested bedside teaching for the first time with great success in collaboration with the Robert Bosch Hospital. We would like to thank the doctors who so kindly supported us there for their natural collegial cooperation.

You can find more information about the three-month course here.

The lecturers at Hahnemann Association are medical specialists and contribute their expertise in homeopathy for the next generation. Many of them are themselves authors of important specialist publications. Some of them have learned homeopathy themselves in a three-month course and, after years of practical clinical application, pass on the knowledge they have acquired in their specialist fields to their colleagues who are learning. Their expertise covers general medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, ophthalmology, urology, ear, nose and throat medicine, dermatology, gynecology, anesthesiology, emergency medicine and palliative care.

The lecturers at Hahnemann Association are all uncompromisingly committed to good scientific practice and maintain an appreciative and open scientific discourse.

You can find more information about the lecturers at Hahnemann Association here.

The expertise of homeopathic doctors is highly specialized. Homeopathy is a very large scientific field that requires intensive, lifelong and continuous learning. It is not possible for people who have no practical or theoretical experience with homeopathy to generate groundbreaking research impulses. Science urgently needs the expertise of physicians with homeopathic experience in order to develop ideas and correct research strategies in the scientific process.

Further, detailed and up-to-date information on research in homeopathy can be found in the press releases and under the main topic Forschung.

Homeopathy is a tried, tested and effective therapeutic method that is becoming increasingly popular with patients and is being practiced by more and more doctors.

Homeopathy has been practiced for over 200 years and is used worldwide. Homeopathy is integrated into the healthcare systems of many countries, such as Switzerland, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Pakistan and India. In India alone, more than 100 million people use homeopathy. In Europe, homeopathy is established in 39 countries.

The World Medical Organization of Homeopathic Physicians LMHI has 78 member states and the number is growing. In India alone, there are over 200,000 homeopathic doctors.

In Europe, 45,000 doctors are trained in homeopathy.

In Germany, almost 7,000 doctors have an additional qualification in homeopathy(2018 medical statistics from the German Medical Association S4, S40). This is more than the number of specialists in ear, nose and throat medicine, urology or dermatology.

In Germany, surveys show that the use of homeopathy in Germany is increasing. In 2020, the proportion of the German population using homeopathy is already 58% (Forsa April 2020).

Further information can be found at Forschung | Erfahrung der Patientinnen und Patienten.