Homeopathy (also spelled homoeopathy or homœopathy) is a form of alternative medicine, first proposed by German physician Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, in which practitioners use highly formulated by Hahnemann, which he called the ''law of similars'', preparations which cause certain symptoms in healthy individuals are given in diluted form to patients exhibiting similar symptoms.
Homeopathic remedies are prepared by serial dilution with shaking by forceful striking, which homeopaths term ''succussion,'' after each dilution under the assumption that this increases the effect.
Homeopaths call this process ''potentization''. Dilution often continues until none of the original substance remains.
Apart from the symptoms, homeopaths use aspects of the patient's physical and psychological state in recommending remedies.
Homeopathic reference books known as ''repertories'' are then consulted, and a remedy is selected based on the totality of symptoms.
Homeopathic remedies are, with rare exceptions, considered safe though homeopathy has been criticized for putting patients at risk due to advice against conventional medicine such as vaccinations, anti-malarial drugs,
Homeopathy's efficacy beyond the placebo effect is unsupported by the collective weight of scientific and clinical evidence. While some individual studies have positive results, systematic reviews of published trials fail to demonstrate efficacy conclusively.
Furthermore, higher quality trials tend to report less positive results,
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