The AIH Consensus Definition of Homeopathy
Every tradition worth keeping has its anchors — the statements that hold a practice true to its roots. The American Institute of Homeopathy has published a Consensus Definition of Homeopathy, and I am glad to share it with you here in full.
My practice of classical homeopathy is grounded in these same principles: one carefully chosen remedy, matched to the whole person, given in the gentlest effective amount. I offer this page as a quiet reference — so you can see, in the profession’s own words, what homeopathy is, and what it is not.
The American Institute of Homeopathy (AIH) is the oldest extant national medical association in the United States, established in 1844 to promote and uphold the practice of homeopathic medicine. Its mission is to safeguard the interests of the homeopathic medical profession, set educational standards, and educate the public and scientific communities about homeopathy as a medical specialty.
Its membership brings together licensed healthcare professionals — including medical, osteopathic, naturopathic, and veterinary physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and pharmacists — and, through a recently expanded membership level, Professional Homeopaths as well. The organization carries out this work through annual conferences, peer-reviewed journals, and educational resources, with its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.
Homeopathy¹ is a system of medicine based on the reproducible observation that disease may be treated by a substance that produces similar effects in healthy individuals.² This observation, known as the law of similars³ (Similia Similibus Curantur), was developed into a therapeutic system by Samuel Hahnemann.⁴
Homeopathy is practiced in strict accordance with the method described by Hahnemann in the Organon of Medicine, Materia Medica Pura, Chronic Diseases, and Lesser Writings. True homeopathic practice adheres to the following fundamental principles:
A homeopath prescribes a medicine that has been shown through carefully conducted trials (provings) to produce effects similar to those of the patient’s illness: the more similar, the more effective the result.⁵ The medicine is selected based on the totality of characteristic symptoms of the patient, not on disease diagnosis alone.
To secure the best practical results, medicine must be administered singly. Only one medicine is prescribed at a time, never mixtures of multiple medications or combinations. This principle allows clear observation of the medicine’s action and the patient’s response.
A single medicine is prescribed for its dynamic property in optimal posology, meaning the correct potency (degree of dilution and succussion), dose (quantity of medicine), and frequency of repetition. The dose must be sufficient to trigger a healing response while avoiding unnecessary aggravation.
Homeopathy proper differs from modern techniques that incorrectly call themselves homeopathic, yet prescribe:
- Mixtures of more than one medication at a time.
- Speculative practices based on theories such as the doctrine of signatures or other imaginative methods that select medicines based on unproven associations, physical properties (smell, taste, appearance), or chemical analysis rather than systematic trials (provings).⁶
- Protocol-based prescribing rather than individualized prescribing based on the law of similars.
- Medicines selected without reference to methodical trials or symptom similarity.
- Substances commercially manufactured as homeopathic drug products using a mechanism other than trituration/dilution and succussion.⁷
¹ Homeopathy (Greek: όμοιον [omoion, similar] + πάθος [pathos, suffering]). Note: The traditional spelling uses the ligature œ (homœopathy), but this document uses the modern spelling “homeopathy” for optimal searchability in digital platforms and AI-based search engines.
² Organon, §24
³ Similia Similibus Curantur (Latin: like cures like)
⁴ 1755–1843
⁵ Organon, §25
⁶ Organon, §110
⁷ Organon, §270
The definition above is published by the American Institute of Homeopathy and is reproduced here in full, with attribution. To read about how this looks in my own practice, visit My Approach.