It is not easy to keep track of the research work on homeopathy. There are hardly any books on the subject. All the more reason for a book that describes the current state of research to stand out: it summarizes the most important 300 studies on 100 diseases. The US-American homeopath, author (several books also in German) and speaker Dana Ullman (here a link to a video) has written it: „Evidence Based Homeopathic Family Medicine (587 pages). The book is an ebook and is updated by Dana Ullman every three months with new studies. The latest edition is from January 2019.
When I discovered that Dana was being insulted by sceptics like Edzard Ernst and Dana signed the petition pro homeopathy at change.org (Link), I contacted him and interviewed him about his book.
Here’s our interview we did on January 27th by e-mail:
Christian Becker: Could you briefly introduce yourself to the readers in Germany .
Dana Ullman: I was introduced to homeopathic medicine when I was a student at UC Berkeley and was immediately smitten. I appreciated its art, its science, and its history. Because I found that 19th century homeopathic books were not speaking adequately well to people in the 20th century, I felt compelled to update its language and to increase its user-friendly applications. In the past several decades, I’ve written 10 books (two of which contain a Foreword by the Physician to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, several of which were published in German and a half-dozen other languages) and I’ve co-published 40 books on homeopathy by my colleagues (co-published with North Atlantic Books which are now distributed worldwide by the leading publisher, Random House/Penguin, and include books by Edward Whitmont, MD, Phillip Bailey, MD, Paul Herscu, ND, Harris Coulter, PhD, Richard Moskowitz, MD, Donald Hamilton, DVM). I have also authored chapters on homeopathy in four medical textbooks, including two published by Oxford University).
Christian Becker: As a homeopath and book author you have a lot of contact to people who use homeopathy for themselves. What are some highlights, what people tell them about it?
Dana Ullman: I have met literally hundreds of people who’ve told me that they keep one of my books by their bedside and that they have used my books to treat their children. Even recently, I’ve had many people tell me that they grew up with their parents (usually their mother) who prescribed homeopathic medicines based on my books and that they are now using my books to treat their own children. It is also heartwarming to hear stories of „miracles“ from homeopathic treatment when people tell me that they previously had one or another serious illness and getting professional homeopathic treatment led to a profound healing experience.
Christian Becker: In your book for parents you also focus on the presentation of studies on homeopathy. How important are studies for your readers, what is their impression?
Dana Ullman: Actually, my ebook, „Evidence Based Homeopathic Family Medicine,“ is not simply for parents. It is for everybody. Further, it is also invaluable to health and medical professionals because it not only provides specific and practical advice on how to use homeopathic medicines to treat people who experience 100 or so common ailments, but it also provides reference to, descriptions of, and links to over 300 clinical studies published in peer-review medical journals.
The average appreciator of homeopathy does not necessarily need scientific evidence to prove that homeopathy works, they already KNOW that! However, knowing about scientific evidence is invaluable to show to people who are less familiar with homeopathy and who have not yet had personal experiences with it. Sometimes these people who are unfamiliar or even skeptical of homeopathy can be a spouse, a parent, an in-law, a relative, a neighbor, a fellow parent, a co-worker, or even one’s conventional physician. At present, there is a total myth (even a lie!) that is commonly asserted in the media that claims that „there is no scientific evidence that homeopathy works.“ However, my ebook provides solid and compelling and even detailed evidence that homeopathic medicines are effective in providing tangible and relevant benefits to people suffering from a wide variety of acute and chronic illnesses.
Christian Becker: Why don’t you briefly introduce us to your book for parents and how readers benefit from it – and how it differs from other books for this target group?
Dana Ullman: My ebook is totally unique in homeopathic literature because it provides a modern, even futuristic, explanation for what homeopathy is, along with compelling descriptions for different theories that explain how homeopathic nanodoses can have significant benefits on a person’s health. Few people seem to know or appreciate the fact that our human body’s hormones and cell-signaling systems operate at extreme nanodoses. Homeopaths do not say that nanodoses of just „anything“ will be beneficial. Quite the contrary, homeopaths assert that nanodoses will only have a beneficial effect if and when the overall syndrome of symptoms that the sick person is experiencing are prescribed a nanodose of a medicine which is known to cause the similar syndrome of symptoms when exposed to overdoses of this same medicinal agent.
Ultimately, this ebook has over 100 chapters on various acute and chronic diseases, though there are no recommended homeopathic medicines to use for 15 to 20 of these conditions because these conditions are too severe and/or too complex for self-care (and therefore require the treatment by a professional homeopath). The remaining 80 to 85 conditions provide differential descriptions of some of the leading homeopathic medicines to consider, along with a detailed description of their individualizing symptoms, as well as a highlighting of certain homeopathic medicines that are most commonly indicated for a specific ailment.
Of special and unique value is the information provided on the 300+ clinical studies published in peer-review medical journals.
This ebook is of special value to practicing homeopaths because they can print out the chapter of a condition of their patient so that the patient can show their spouse or their parents or their doctor or other concerned parties. Sharing this information often leads to increased compliance by patient as well as increased referrals from each patient’s network. Practicing homeopaths can use this ebook to help grow their practice. Further, homeopaths and other advocates of homeopathy can use this ebook to write articles or blogs that reference the research provided so that they can help correct the great amount of misinformation that people have about homeopathy and its scientific basis.
I hope that the above answers are helpful to you.
Christian Becker: Oh yes, your answers will help very much. Thank you so much for the interview and all the best to you.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE EBOOK
Titel: Evidence Based Homeopathic Family Medicine
Autor: DANA ULLMAN, MPH, CCH
Description of the book by Dana Ullman: „This eBook is a user-friendly guidebook to learning what homeopathic medicine has to offer in the treatment of 100+ common ailments…along with reference to, descriptions of, and links to over 300 clinical studies on homeopathic medicine that have been published in peer-review medical journals! Whether you wish to learn how to use the common remedies in a homeopathic medicine kit or wish to learn about the scientific evidence for homeopathy, you will want to get this eBook!
Distinct from other online resources that simply provide a long list of references to homeopathic research, this eBook provides description, summary, and analysis of this research…plus it teaches you what are some of the most commonly used homeopathic medicines for these common ailments along with other homeopathic medicines to consider, with descriptive summaries of the specific indications for each remedy.
FREE SAMPLE (Link pdf) from Dana Ullman: See the entire table of contents of our eBook, plus sample chapters in the list of ailments that begin with the letter “A”: AIDS, Allergies, Anger, Anxiety, Arthritis, Asthma. (If you don’t have Adobe’s Acrobat Reader, you can download a FREE copy here for PCs or here for MACS)
Dana Ullman: This eBook is the most up-to-date and comprehensive resources to “evidence based homeopathic family medicine.”
Link to the eBook with download option.
The ebook price includes a two-year subscription – with updating of the book all three months with new studies.
(Photo: Silicon Valley Health Institute, Youtube-Screenshot, Cover ebok: Dana Ulmann)
