Homeopathic consultations effective but not the remedies--study

According to researchers, a standard medical consultation takes no longer than an average of six minutes while homeopathic doctors spend anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half with a patient.

Compared with a doctor's often simplistic finding of a pathogen, the homeopaths focus on personal details.

The dedicated attention very easily influences patients and they get great comfort and health benefits from the knowledge that someone cares so deeply.

George Lewith, professor of health research from Southampton University stated, "This research asked the question: 'Is homeopathy about the talking, or is it about the medicine?’ We found it was about the talking, and indeed about the listening.”

Details of the study
In a bid to assess whether homeopathy consultations can benefit arthritis patients, the researchers conducted a study.

The investigators enrolled 83 people with rheumatoid arthritis from clinics in Southampton, Poole, and Winchester who had received conventional medications for their ailment.

Over a period of 24 weeks between January 2006 and July 2008, the study subjects were randomly assigned to a series of five homeopathic consultations alongside homeopathic remedy for arthritis or a placebo.

In addition, some were just given the medicine or placebo sans the consultations. Only 56 patients completed the treatment.

Revelations of the study
The investigators found that the patients who received consultations exhibited dramatic improvements in pain, inflammation, swollen joints, and mood swings regardless of having been administered a remedy or placebo.

In contrast, those who were not part of the consultation regimen reported no improvement in their symptoms.

Lead author of the study, Dr Sarah Brien, a senior research fellow in complementary medicine at the University of Southampton stated, "Although previous trials have shown homeopathy may help patients with rheumatoid arthritis, this is the first time that we have scientific evidence that these benefits are specifically due to its unique consultation process.

"Homeopathic consultations differ from those in conventional medicine in that homeopaths focus on treating the patient, whereas conventional doctors tend to treat the illness.

"The homeopathic consultation process improves the health of these arthritis patients based on standard rheumatology measurements and does so safely and without side effects.

"What we don't yet know is if it is possible to introduce some of the techniques or approaches used within these consultations into conventional medicine."

The details of the study have been published in the journal 'Rheumatology.'