Homeopathy/Catalogs

Problematic terminology

Concept	Terms preferred by homeopaths	Terms preferred by non-homeopath physicians
Trained and licensed health professionals who do not recommend homeopathy.	conventional physicians, allopath	Physician, biomedical specialist, non-homeopathic physician
Trained and licensed health professionals who follow a homeopathic model, in the category the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine calls a "whole" system, or an alternative to mainstream medicine.	Homeopath	Alternative practitioner using homeopathy
Someone who believes that homeopathy is an essentially perfect system that needs only minor refinements, and that every case is inherently different	?? some distinctions as made in types of chiropractic approach	not mainstream physicians and biomedical scientists
Someone who believes that Hahnemann defined a system that was superior to what the other kind of practitioner did in the 19th and early 20th century, but was largely made obsolete by processes that can be defined and measured, yet used with judgment appropriate for the individual	skeptic, critic	Biomedical scientist, one trained by the evolved system proposed by Abraham Flexner
Bodily responses to abnormality (symptoms or signs), for which molecular or other objective mechanisms can be described in substantial detail	???	no single term: metabolic homeostasis (biology) (including anabolism and catabolism, mitosis and apoptosis, immune mechanisms (see note below) including cell-mediated [note 1] and humoral immunity [note 2]
Bodily responses to abnormality (symptoms or signs), for which no formal mechanism is defined	Vital force	???
The thing added to a larger amount of something so the thing can be taken by the patient	similimum	active ingredient; drug
Guidance on best treatment	(medical training and literature (Note 4), clinical decision support system & materia medica, repertory	(medical training and literature (Note 4), clinical decision support system
The thing administered to an individual to cause a measurable physiologic reaction	???	active ingredient; drug
The thing administered to an individual to cause a measurable immune response, usually active immunity. There may be immediate symptoms, but producing them is not a goal	vaccine/antigen	vaccine, antigen
The something to which the small amount of the other thing can be added	water (but there apparently are things that are not water, such as ethanol), or, in the body of the article, lactose. Is water the only something that has memory?	Diluent (water & ethanol), vehicle(lactose)
Opinion and trust not based on statistical analysis	Popularity	Lay opinion
Administration of a substance to healthy volunteers to determine its effects	Homeopathic proving	Phase I randomized controlled trial

Note 1: phagocytosis, agglutination as by eosinophils, nonspecific recognition by macrophages

Note 2: changes in immunoglobulins, complement, opsonization

Note 3: terminology conflict: while a homeopathic preparation is considered, by homeopaths, to have the desired effect of producing symptoms, physicians do not necessarily regard symptoms as physiologic changes. signs, clinical pathology results, and changes in diagnostic imaging do indicate change

Note 4: A pair of standard texts such as Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, cross-referenced to Goodman & Gilman's Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics are regarded as starting points -- but need not be consulted in every case.