Homeopathic proving

A homeopathic proving is the method by which the profile of a homeopathic remedy is determined. They are carried out in a number of ways depending on the type of homeopath carrying out the trial. This can involve anything from following Samuel Hahnemann’s strict protocol to a person taking the remedy and meditating on the effects.

Related Topics:
Homeopathic remedy - Samuel Hahnemann

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A fairly typical method of homeopathic proving involves about 20 volunteers taking the remedy for approximately 6 weeks. During this time each prover keeps a proving diary recording all mental, physical and emotional symptoms that are experienced during the proving. At the end of the proving period the master prover will extract a remedy picture from the diaries. In order to give a full remedy picture it is normal for the provers to take the remedy at a range of potencies.

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A more recent development occasionally used involves having some of the participants in a trial take a placebo. The symptoms recorded by these provers are compared to the symptoms recorded by the other provers in order to aid the process of deciding which symptoms are caused by the remedy. It should be noted that even such 'placebo-controlled' provings do not qualify as either randomized or double-blind trials, since the participants are not randomized and the master prover is routinely aware of who is on placebo. Moreover, in these provings the provers on placebo regularly produce the same set of symptoms as those taking the remedy, a fact which some homeopaths attribute to field effects ('energetic resonance' among the proving participants) but is otherwise regarded as clear evidence for the pseudoscientific status of homeopathy.

Related Topics:
Placebo - Symptoms - Randomized - Double-blind - Resonance - Pseudoscientific - Homeopathy

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