I was wondering if someone would be able to guide me on how to spot a good homeopath. So that I am able to separate the grain from the chaff. I have tried to develop the following questionnaire and would appreciate comments if this is adequate or not. I want it to be as brief as possible in getting the job done.
Thanks.

What is your basic education.
Where did you get your homeopathy degree from.
Did you do any specialization.
If yes, from where & what.
Do you have the license to practice homeopathy in England or USA.
How much is your homeopathic work experience in years.
Are you MBBS (M.D) also.
Do you use single remedy or combination.
Do you use LM potencies.
Do you use steroids.
Will you write the prescription of the medicines you give (names & potency).
Do you use any homeopathic software.
If yes, which software you use.
Have you ever treated cancer.
Your areas of specialty, if any.
Do you rely on lab results to verify the cure.
What is your success rate overall in %age.

__________________
Don't take life too seriously, it aint permanent.

For Australian Homeopaths
What is your basic education.
Would be minimum of HSC/VCE with Tertiary Entrance Score (ENTER) to apply to relevant schools.
Where did you get your homeopathy degree from.
Is a Diploma or Advanced Diploma here.
Did you do any specialization.
Most courses have a generalist approach and only on starting practice does the specialization seem to come. They say you attract what you need!
How much is your homeopathic work experience in years
A novice practitioner can be just as good as an experienced person, who may not see the wood for the trees.
In Do you have the license to practice homeopathy in England or USA.
Not applicable in Australia
Are you MBBS (M.D) also.
Will this mean that the treatment can be allopathic with a little homeopathic or homeopathic with a little allopathy. It blurs the lines that the practitioner has to draw, as allopathic treatment is refundable under the Australian Medicare system ( for the time being)whereas homeopathy is still regarded as a cottage industry.(regardless of what the AHA likes to thisk of themselves)
Do you use single remedy or combination.
This is probably your most important question. I would follow it by a question on repetition of dose.
Do you use LM potencies.
Also important, but the dose/potency should fit the patient's modality, not the practitioner's preferences. I have learnt about LMs as the need has arisen.
Do you use steroids.
Not applicable for Australian homeopaths. If they do, then they are breaking the law
Will you write the prescription of the medicines you give (names & potency).
I always let my patient know what I've given and what potency. I very rarely let them have any remedy to take home with them, unless I know that they are conversant with the basics of homeopathy and won't take more than they should. I also encourage them to take an active interest in looking after their health and recording any future symptoms.
Do you use any homeopathic software
Yes, MacRep, but have gone back to using the books as I find that I take a better case ( I know it takes longer, but often I find that the remedies that the program comes up with are guiding remedies and are too broad to really use)
Have you ever treated cancer.
No, it's illegal to treat cancer or diabetes in Australia. I treat the person as a whole and if they have cancer and they have come to me, then I ask if they have discussed this option with their oncologist before we start any consultation. I refer on to other collegues if I think they have more expertise in that particular area.
Your areas of specialty, if any.
You already asked this question at the top of your list
Do you rely on lab results to verify the cure
I don't know of any homeopaths here that have access to the major labs to order tests. The patient would have to see a medical practitioner & ask for the tests and then bring them back.
So my answer here would be "no"
What is your success rate overall in %age.
There are always patients who "therapist shop", so do you include them as failures or successes. There are statistics and then there are statistics. Figures can be manipulated to make most situations quite positive, it all depends on the parameters that you use.

Thanks for the reply.

The purpose of asking for MBBS was that a MBBS is (in my opinion) much better trained in knowing the physical side of the human body. He would basically be using Homeopathy with a little allpathy if desperately needed. Also, he could use the lab tests as his guide.

A homeopath having the following abilities would be the best bet in my view:

A MBBS trained in homeopathy with a 10+ years of work experience who doesn't give steroids, has successfully treated at least some form of cancer, uses a single remedy at a time, is conversant with LM potencies and has a success rate of 80% or more (true statistics excluding therapist shoppers).

__________________
Don't take life too seriously, it aint permanent.

I recently participated in a National Institutes for Health research project. It still has another year to run, but we were discussing the results so far and it does seem as if medically trained homeopaths do not in general have as good results as homeopaths who do not have medical training. Could be that medical homeopaths do not have a good a training in philosophy or they may have more of a mechanical view of how the body works or they are more used to prescribing based on the disease. We are eagerly awaiting the final research results that will come out next year.

So, aside from the advantage of insurance, I would say that if a homeopath is medically trained/has a medical degree, then that is detrimental rather than an advantage.

__________________
Shirley Reischman

I don't think this questionnaire is relevant. There are a number of questions which simply don't apply--for example, the question regarding MBBS or MD status, which might be something of an equivalent in North America (but is not, really). Medical schools in North America do not teach homeopathy, in fact most refuse to acknowledge any form of medicine other than conventional western medicine as valid. Regulatory bodies in North America will often take steps to discipline any doctor who uses any kind of alternate therapy in their practice, so MDs are restricted, in a very real way, from practicing naturopathy or chiropractic or homeopathy or any other kind of alternative therapy.

Its a deep bias in the education system, but you have to know the history of medicine in this part of the world to understand why this bias exists. It has nothing to do with medical effectiveness, and everything to do with political and economic realities and who has the political and economic might to influence legislation and practice.

Homeopaths in North America self-regulate by association, just as MDs do--and there are legitimate organisations, such as NASH and the NCH, who represent their constituents to the greater public at large. They set the standard for education requirements, practice standards, and ethical conduct in the profession, and these standards are very similar to what is found internationally. These organisations are interested in furthering Classical homeopathic practice as outlined by Hahnemann in the Organon--anything that falls out of that framework is not homeopathy and this demarcation is made clear by such organisations. This is part of the PR work they do in the courts and in the general public which allows them to be effective representatives of homeopathy and its practitioners.

Only conventional medical doctors have access to labs, perform surgery, or prescribe pharmaceutical drugs. Anyone else doing so is guilty of "practicing medicine without a license", a form of fraud. As a result, homeopaths often encourage their patients to keep track of any changes in their condition using these kinds of diagnostic tests, and often find information from tests to be useful markers of progresses made towards health; but in general these are not very important in most cases. The reality for many patients is that THEIR access to such testing is restricted by cost--many insurance providers place limits on these testing procedures because of the money involved, so they are not as accessible as they would need to be for most patients.

You may want to know whether or not a practitioner would discourage a patient from using conventional medical resources all together--any type of decision making being made by the homeopath regarding the patient's health is somewhat questionable, ethically, and it should never be done. Homeopaths refer in cases of trauma and crisis--this is just wise because it is unfair that anyone should face situations like this alone and accept all liability for whatever their outcomes will be. Knowing when to refer and demand that support is part of the training in homeopathy.

In the end, however, "health" has much more to do with many other realities besides what the diagnostic tests say, and a disappearance of symptoms of a "main complaint".

In many states and provinces, consumer rights to freedom of choice regarding health care is restricted. Patients can be forced, by courts, to submit to conventional medical treatment despite their wishes. This happens every day.

Also, "success rates" in terms of percentage is a very limited and inaccurate method of "keeping track" of what happens to every patient. Anyone who says they have an 80% success rate of cure in their practice is deluding themselves because they don't understand what treatment is about. First of all, it isn't for us as practitioners to decide who we've "cured"; its up to the patient to be able to determine whether the process of restoring health will be ongoing or stagnate, regardless of the homeopath's ability to select the right remedy. "Cure" involves a lot more than just picking a remedy that will take away all the symptoms and complaints--much of what is involved in cure means that the patient assumes responsibility for making permanent changes in their lives so that they do not continue to perpetuate the circumstances which made them ill in the first place. You can take away all the symptoms for them but if they change nothing about their lives, they'll be sick again in no time. So, yes, you'd be effective in selecting the right remedy which worked like a charm--but if the other work isn't done by the patient, and he gets sick again, did you succeed or fail in your job as a homeopath?

The best way to select a good homeopath is to 1)learn the basics about homeopathic therapy and practice, so you can tell the difference between who knows what they are doing and who doesn't; 2) ask around, talk to people you know to see if they can recommend a good practitioner who helped them get well; 3) go out and meet the practitioner yourself for an interview and 4) trust your own instincts about the practitioner and his/her abilities to work with you to help you restore your health.

Also, be prepared to commit yourself to the work of making necessary realisations and changes about your self--no matter what treatment method you choose--in order to get well. This part has no shortcut and it is never replaced by a quick surgery or a magic pill.

Finally, I tend to agree with Shirley about the lack of ability fostered by an education in conventional medicine--too many MDs have too much invested in the conventional medical paradigm to understand the science of homeopathy fully; hence the lack of ability to properly understand and use homeopathy with patients. The paradigms are simply too opposed for most MDs to understand the shift involved in order to use homeopathy in practice. This is a huge stumbling block for them and many simply can't make the necessary adjustment. Lay practitioners have traditionally been far more capable as homeopaths, as a result.

[ 18. May 2003, 14:57: Message edited by: ChaChaHeels ]

__________________
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.<br />C.G.Jung

For the first time on this bb I am reading posts from person, who has logical thoughts and creative mind. I like your posts. I was not intersted to reply on this thread but again decided I should go. I will not say this and that like ozie (first talking like someone then came back on track), chacha (mere spiculation to protect her personaity and status) and shirley (protecting homeopathy ,,, always) said. Your questions demand perfect answers. No mere spiculations.

What is your basic education.

If you study the criteria of education of homeopath of the world then there is no criteria. Even in some countries like bhutan you can get diplom on fifth standard of education. In my case, my subject was different to medicine when I got admission in homeopathy. I was already doing homeopathy during my service. I have very vast fields. So many degree's are in my credit but I submitted M.Sc (Physics) degree at the time of admission

Where did you get your homeopathy degree from.

mine course is not included in degree nor in certificate. It was an attendance course of three years and after that two years. The course is not recognised under offical head. But allowed me to practice homeopathy. First I became homeopath and then I got certificate of attandance.

Did you do any specialization.

Yes! Homeopathy or in other subjects?


If yes, from where & what.

already answered

Do you have the license to practice homeopathy in England or USA.

Already answered

How much is your homeopathic work experience in years.

18 years or so

Are you MBBS (M.D) also.

Already answered


Do you use single remedy or combination.

If you say how many percent of homeopaths are using combinations. Then I would say 101 %

Do you use LM potencies.

Very frequent


Do you use steroids.

yes! in incurable cases under the recommendation of allopathic doctor, when I find no way

Will you write the prescription of the medicines

On the demand of patient otherwise NO

you give (names & potency).

Already answered

Do you use any homeopathic software.

According to mathematical calculation (Scientific approved law) you must not rely on homeopathic software. Except to use software for study. I use software for study and not for practice

If yes, which software you use.

Already answered

Have you ever treated cancer.

yes! mine one patient is a cancer patient


Your areas of specialty, if any.

Already answered

Do you rely on lab results to verify the cure.

For some specific purpose otherwise No!


What is your success rate overall in %age.

80 %

[ 18. May 2003, 19:20: Message edited by: Secret Agent ]

Dear fitness first,

Regarding your list of questions, I'll comment on a few of them. Here in North America, certain designations are a good tip-off to a proper education: CCH, DHOM, DIHOM, CHOM,
RSHOM, DHANP, DHt, and possibly a few others. All are indications that the practitioner has had reasonably good training. Without such a designation, you'd have to rely on reputation and referrals from satisfied customers.

A positive spin can be put on a lot of your questions. Many practitioners are using LM's, for instance, but totally arbitrarily
or just as they would use a "C" potency, without any awareness that LM prescribing is a whole discipline in and of itself.

Homeopaths should not be specializing, because we do not treat diseases, per se. One should be able to see "a Belladonna state" in a patient regardless of whether she has menningitis, appendicitis or an ovarian cyst.

Regarding lab tests, the homeopath really should be working with a doctor so that the remedy's action can be verified through testing. We had a perfect example of this here recently, someone wrote in to say that her homeopathic remedy for hypothyroid was making her sick, and she admitted that she was on synthetic thyroid, and without the lab testing, it was apparent that the synthetic thyroid should have been withdrawn and wasn't. What a mess that was.

The use of software doesn't matter.

I will tell you one thing though, a good homeopath is trained to be totally nonjudgemental.
If you are ever with a practitioner who begins lecturing you, or telling you you're wrong or misperceiving, or you're not trying hard enough, etc., this is not a good homeopath! Everything to a homeopath is a symptom, even if you walked in and made an outrageous statement like, "There are aliens in the room," the job of the homeopath is to act as though you are perfectly sane and inquire only as to their whereabouts and what they wanted.

In general, asking questions only has value if you know the answers, otherwise, it seems that every homeopath has studied with George Vithoulkas and Rajan Sankaran and graduated from a school called "Hahnemann"!

Snoopy

Quite a broad response to a seemingly simple but complex query

I don't agree to ChachaHeels that in order to find a good homeopath you have to know homeopathy. This would mean that in order to find a good expert of any field you have to learn it yourself first? So lets try becoming a good car mechanic, a computer technician, a doctor, a plumber...... The purpose of contacting a group of individuals who have been in this field and have gone beyond learning the ropes should have been able to answer this question objectively.

If you were to ask me how to find a good mechanic or a good workshop, I would tell you maybe 15 questions in a jiffy which would guarantee that you end up with the best possible available. Why, because this field has been my passion for the last so many years. I can guide novices and equip them with the checklist that would quickly separate the boys from men.

There are two basic approaches to working in any field, system based and personnel based.

System based always yields consistent and reproducible results whereas the personnel based yields inconsistent and "maybe" results. (system based means that everyone follows a certain procedure and checklist to achieve a certain task, it could be Mr. X or Y. Personnel based means that everyone will work as per his will, he can put empahsis on one thing whereas his replacement will put emphasis on another, a total chaos in a management atmosphere)

Homeopathy today is personnel based and that's why there are 1000 ways of experimenting on a patient. I simply can't absorb this that despite two or so centuries of work in it, there is stil no standard protocol for case taking. A standard protocol which everyone follows, similary no protocol for remedy selection.

Have you ever seen a problem solving checklist or decision tree. Why can't such a tree be developed for human ailments. Maybe this is where the homeopathy will be in coming years so that everyone interested will be able to learn and produce reproducible results. Homeopaths will come up with same remedies for same patients. No woodoo magic, pure and simple logic and science producing tangible results time after time.

__________________
Don't take life too seriously, it aint permanent.

Good thoughts,,, Do you also want to sit in opposition benches... The same words said by the leader of opposition some two years ago

Your ideas and thoughts are pinching my mind. Although I don't want to believe. Keep it up...

__________________
Dr. Inam Ullah Mirza, DHMS, MD, Ph.D
Member National Council for Homoeopathy *NCH*
& Chairman Research Committee
Ministry of Heatlh, Govt of Pakistan

Dear Fitness First,

Boy, you're going to take a big hit for this one!
Did you ever try to hire a home-repair person, knowing nothing about plumbing, etc.? Holy cow, good luck! You are doomed! Doomed, I tells ya!
The same with car repairs--don't even get me started!

The fact that the homeopath has a designation, however, is a very good indication that he/she can be trusted! It shows that he/she has had formal training and had to pass an exam; this counts for something! To show you that the field is not as fragmented as you think, I wish Hans would post another case, and maybe this time BB members won't try to answer based on attempts to psychoanalyze Hans!

Snoopy