Fisher Peter
Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, 60 Great Ormond Street, London WC1N 3HR, UK.
Front Biosci (Elite Ed). 2012 Jan 1;4(5):1669-82. doi: 10.2741/489.
Homeopathy is based on the idea of 'let like be cured by like'. It was founded by Samuel Hahnemann in the late 18th century, although similar concepts existed earlier. Homeopathy became popular in the 19th century in part because of its success in epidemics but declined during most of the 20th century. Its popularity increased in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in many parts of the world. Homeopathy is controversial because of its use of highly dilute medicines. There is a significant body of clinical research including randomised clinical trials and meta-analyses of such trials which suggest that homeopathy has actions which are not placebo effects. Cohort, observational and economic studies have yielded favourable results. There are several schools of homeopathy. Systems which use homeopathic medicines based on symbolism and metaphor are not homeopathy. Despite the long history of scientific controversy, homeopathy has proved resilient and is now geographically widespread. There is a significant body of scientific evidence with positive results. Homeopathy is an anomaly around which deserves further investigation.
顺势疗法基于“以毒攻毒”的理念。它由塞缪尔·哈内曼于18世纪末创立，尽管类似的概念更早便已存在。顺势疗法在19世纪开始流行，部分原因是其在流行病防治方面取得了成功，但在20世纪的大部分时间里却逐渐衰落。在20世纪末和21世纪初，它在世界许多地区再度受到欢迎。顺势疗法颇具争议，因为它使用的是高度稀释的药物。有大量临床研究，包括随机临床试验以及此类试验的荟萃分析，表明顺势疗法具有并非安慰剂效应的作用。队列研究、观察性研究和经济学研究都得出了有利结果。顺势疗法有多个流派。基于象征主义和隐喻使用顺势疗法药物的体系并非顺势疗法。尽管科学争议由来已久，但顺势疗法已证明具有韧性，如今在地理上分布广泛。有大量科学证据显示出积极结果。顺势疗法是一个值得进一步研究的反常现象。
