HOMEOPATHY
Many new patients have questions about homeopathic medicine. The most frequent include:
Q. What is homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a system of medicine based on the philosophy that ‘like cures like’, or ‘similar must be cured by similar.’ The remedy must match the patient’s symptoms on all levels for the remedy to be considered ‘similar’. When the remedy matches the patient’s condition perfectly, the remedy is said to be the ‘simillimum’. This is the remedy that will produce complete healing.
Homeopathy’s miracle lies in its ability to treat the mental and emotional body and physical disease in tandem. As a result, homeopathy is truly holistic. While physical disease symptoms can be alleviated without healing the underlying mental and emotional disturbance, inevitably, the unhealed emotional pain will reappear on the physical level, sometimes in a more severe form.
Q. How Are homeopath medicines prepared?
Homeopathic medicines can be made from many things such as plants, animals, minerals, and bacteria. Preparation involves extraction of the material, dilutions, and vigorous shaking (called ‘succussions’) to create a potent and non-toxic formula. The end result of the successive dilutions is there is no actual molecular content left.
There lies hidden in every substance in Nature some inner life. We can mobilize and use this ‘force’ if we know how to process the substance correctly. (Vithoulkas 1979)
Q. What is disease according to a homeopath?
Disease, as understood in the homeopathic philosophy, is the outward manifestation of inner mental and emotional distress. When the body can no longer hold an emotional burden, it pushes it onto the physical plane. When the mental/emotional distress is corrected, physical disease disappears, and health and balance prevail.
Q. How are homeopathic remedies made? What are the sources?
Homeopathic remedies are made from a variety of plant, animal and mineral sources. It is important to understand that a homeopathic remedy is not the crude substance itself, but rather the energetic properties of that substance. The crude substance is taken through a variety of dilutions (watering down) and succussions (agitation, shaking) until there is no trace of the original substance left. A remedy is energetic in nature, and not chemical. What is left is a ‘curative energy’ that can ignite a healing response. By administering a homeopathic medicine that mirrors the diseased state of the individual (i.e. ‘like cures like’) this curative energy will force the diseased state out of the ailing individual.
Q. Is Homeopathy/Naturopathic Medicine covered by health insurance?
Most private health insurance services, such as those provided by employers, cover homeopathy, and naturopathic medicine. Check with your current health insurance provider for more information. When you pay for your visit, you’ll receive a receipt of payment that you can submit to your insurance company.
What’s the difference between Homeopathy & Naturopathic Medicine?
People often wonder what the difference is between naturopathic medicine and homeopathy. The main differentiating factor between the two is in their scope of medicine. Homeopathy is a discipline in itself, but it is often practiced within the scope of naturopathic medicine. 
Our Naturopathic Doctor Dr. Vienna Iafrate is trained in many modalities such as homeopathy, acupuncture, botanical medicine, nutrition, lifestyle counseling, and hydrotherapy. However, both disciplines are similar in that they operate under the same general philosophy, with homeopathy offering its own unique perspectives on health and disease. 
Homeopathy … cures a larger percentage of cases than any other method of treatment and is beyond doubt safer and more economical, and [the] most complete medical science. — Mahatama Gandhi
