Research recently published in the European Journal of Integrative Medicine (using data from the ISTAT survey on “Health status of the population and use of health services” (2004–2005): sample size 104,000, 18+ adults) show that around 15% of Italian adults have been treated with a CAM therapy (in last 3 years).

The most popular therapies used in Italy were some type of ‘manipulation’ therapy and homeopathy (around a half of these users had used either one, or both).

Just under 25% of these people had used herbal medicine and around 15% had used acupuncture.

The research showed that CAM usage was more frequent among highly educated and upper-middle class people, women, middle-aged people – and in Northern Italy. It was found that people with chronic diseases used CAM more frequently.

Most CAM users reported complete satisfaction with their treatments.

Complete satisfaction ratings were: acupuncture (61%); herbal medicine (69%); homeopathy (71%); manual treatments(78%).

There were also “high satisfaction” ratings from individuals with chronic conditions.

The strongest determinants of ‘complete satisfaction’ with their CAM treatments were found amongst those who “refused to combine conventional medicine and CAM”.

In an article published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a group of Indian researchers have reported on their study on the successful use of homeopathy in the management of various symptoms encountered during the menopause.

They undertook an observational study over a 1 year period which centred on assessing 15 predefined symptoms of menopause.

They found that homeopathy was useful in relieving hot flushes, night sweats, anxiety, palpitation, depression and insomnia.

Swedish court rules: ‘Doctors can recommend homeopathy’. See original article here.

The Supreme Administrative Court has recently ruled that Swedish doctors can openly recommend homeopathy to their patients. Until recently homeopathy had not been accepted by the Swedish health authorities as an official therapeutic approach, and doctors in Sweden were not allowed to prescribe homeopathic medicines.

The court case began several years ago when a medical doctor, who was trained in homeopathy in the UK and used this therapy in his practice, was put on probation by the Medical Responsibility Board (Hälso- och Sjukvårdens AnsvarsNämnd – HSAN). The doctor appealed the decision on the grounds that he just used homeopathy when the patient requested it and only when conventional treatment had turned out to be ineffective. After being sentenced in two lower courts, he was forbidden to use homeopathy. The verdict claimed that homeopathy is unscientific, thus ignoring the growing evidence base of the effectiveness of homeopathy.

Just recently, after years of discrimination against him and his patients, his case came at last to the highest court. This court decided that patients were not exposed to any danger and the doctor had used scientific knowledge when it was necessary.

The implications of this decision are that from now on qualified medical personnel are allowed to use homeopathy. The verdict has already led to much publicity in Sweden and a rapidly increasing interest in homeopathy and other complementary therapies.

The Swiss Government – through their Social Insurance Office (FSIO) – have just published the results of their report on Homeopathy, commissioned in 2006.

Its conclusion is that Homeopathy is a valuable addition to conventional healthcare. This conclusive finding overturns previous negative studies in Switzerland from authorities like the Swiss Complementary Medicine Evaluation Programme (PEK).

Rather than take the rigid, schematic and exclusively quantitative (negative) outcome approach of PEK, or the meta-analytical and systematic approach of the Cochrane Collaboration, the new study looks not just at the effectiveness of a particular homeopathic intervention, it also looks at the effectiveness of homeopathy in everyday use.

So it has taken into account the real world effectiveness of homeopathy in terms of how it is used, its safety and its cost-effectiveness.

In the report the authors comment on the Shang et al 2005 study on Homeopathy and explain that : “We can say with certainty that the Shang et al 2005 study does not prove that homeopathy has no effect.”

The 300 page report, looks at all the scientific literature in homeopathy and summarises 22 reviews, 20 of which show positive results for homeopathy.

Four of these show strong evidence that homeopathy, as a system of medicine, is efficacious.

The English translation of the Swiss Health Technology Assessment (HTA) report on Homeopathy is called ‘Homeopathy in Healthcare: Effectiveness, Appropriateness, Safety, Costs.’and is printed by Springer.

Amy Lansky, an author who experienced the cure of her son’s autism with homeopathy, discusses how homeopathy is an appropriate medicine for the time we are living in.

These days, with “quackbuster” attacks on homeopathy occurring on almost a daily basis, we in the homeopathic world are anxious to prove ourselves on conventional terms. For example, we hope that increased awareness of the many high-quality double-blind placebo-controlled trials of homeopathy will stem the tide of negative media and public opinion. It is certainly true that proving the power of homeopathic treatment in modern scientific terms is important. Studies like those by Rustum Roy [1], Jacques Benveniste [2], and Nobel-prize winner Luc Montagnier [3], which unequivocally demonstrate the information-carrying power of ultradilutions and/or focus on the way a remedy’s information is actually stored within them, may be even more important, because they not only demonstrate a potential mechanism for homeopathy, but might also help us improve the delivery of our homeopathic remedies to patients.

But have you ever wondered why the quackbusters and their media spokespeople are so pervasive and persistent right now? For one thing, there is ample evidence that they are funded by big pharma [4]—perhaps the deepest pockets now on our planet. And the truth is, big pharma does have a reason to fear. As I pointed out in my December 2009 article in the Mercola Newsletter [5], if the results of researchers like Benveniste and Montagnier become more widely accepted, people will realize that any substance— including allopathic drugs—can be potentized and manufactured at virtually zero cost. That would spell the end of big pharma.

But there may actually be a more profound reason for the rise of the quackbusters. As Bob Dylan said, “The times they are a’changing.” Slowly but surely, a new and deeper kind of awareness and consciousness is spreading across the globe. Once relegated to the “New Age” set or to mystics, more and more people in the mainstream are engaging in meditation and are beginning to develop an awareness that humanity, nature, and the Earth itself are all interconnected on a deeper level. We may be on the cusp of a revolution in human consciousness. And a world populated by more deeply conscious humans will also be a world in which alternative energy-based medicines, like homeopathy, will be the norm.

Of course, the desperation of big Pharma is a symptom of the desperation of conventional medicine overall. The writing is on the wall for them. Allopathy is failing, creating deeper disease, or becoming too toxic to bear, and people are turning away bit by bit—some out of financial necessity, but many out of increased awareness of the reality of the energy body—the vital force. So rather than trying to convince people that homeopathic treatment is as good as an allopathic pill, perhaps our strategy should be to reach out more effectively to the growing number of people who are evolving and “waking up.” We need to let them know that homeopathy is perhaps the best and most complete form of “spiritual” energy-based medicine. After all, most homeopaths and many homeopathic patients know this to be true. Why not flaunt it—at least in the appropriate circles?

It is also wise to remember something interesting about the 1800’s—the time in which homeopathy experienced its greatest growth and acceptance. This was also a time in which spiritual beliefs were very much in vogue among the elite, and indeed, many homeopaths were involved in religious movements tied to this ethos—the Swedenborgian Church being most notable (whose ideology influenced the great American homeopath James Tyler Kent and through him, the practice of homeopathy worldwide). Perhaps the confluence of such beliefs and the growth of homeopathy was not an accident. Many people at that time understood their reality in a different way and were thus more open to a form of medicine that operated in a different way too. The same explanation might underlie the immense popularity and acceptance of homeopathy in India.

Of course, much of this was swept away with the advance of modern science in the early 1900’s, and along with it, the rise of modern drugs and allopathy. But the times they are a’changing. Humanity isn’t exactly returning to the mystical views of the past, but rather, is incorporating a deeper, more “spiritual” element into science itself. The science of people like Roy, Benveniste, and Montagnier is finally catching up with homeopathy. And so is the consciousness of humanity. Homeopathy’s time is coming.

I have been deeply interested in the more mystical side of reality for a long time, and especially how it can be understood from a scientific perspective. My new book, Active Consciousness: Awakening the Power Within (www.activeconsciousness.com) [7], weaves together research on psychic phenomena and energy-based medicines like homeopathy, and information gleaned from a wide variety of esoteric sources (Kabbalah, Gurdjieff, Steiner etc).

References

[1] M.L. Rao, et al. “The Defining Role of Structure (Including Epitaxy) in the Plausibility of Homeopathy.” Homeopathy, 96, pp. 175–182 (2007).

[2] E. Davenas, et al. “Human Basophil Degranulation Triggered by Very Dilute Antiserum Against IgE.” Nature, Volume 333, Number 6176, pp. 816–181 (June 1988).

[3] L. Montagnier, et al.,“Electromagnetic Signals Are Produced by Aqueous Nanostructures Derived from Bacterial DNA Sequences.” Interdiscip Sci Comput Life Sci, 1: 81–90 (2009).

[4] H. Stevenson. “Quackbusters Are Busted!” (July 2010). See: http://www.gaia-health.com/articles251/000277-quackbusters-are-busted.shtml.

[5] A. Lansky. “Could This ‘Forbidden Medicine” Eliminate the Need for Drugs?” or “Why the Skeptics Love to Hate Homeopathy.” Mercola Newsletter (December 22, 2009). See: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/22/Why-Skeptics-Love-to-Hate-Homeopathy.aspx.

[6] A. Lansky. Impossible Cure: The Promise of Homeopathy. Portola Valley, California: R.L.Ranch Press (2003) (www.impossiblecure.com).

[7] A. Lansky. Active Consciousness: Awakening the Power Within. Portola Valley, California: R.L.Ranch Press (2011) (www.activeconsciousness.com).