Psychiatry continued to be undefined as a specialty into the 20th century, and physicians from other specialties carried on the instruction in this field. Some asylums were founded in early 19th century, and by 1843 there were around 24 hospitals for the care of the mentally ill. (APA, 1944)
The first homeopathic hospital for the mentally ill was founded in Middletown, New York, in May 1874. According to the attending physicians "...did not require the use of the opiates, bromides or chloral hydrate in order to control the patients"(Stiles, 1875).
A report published in the Transactions of the American Institute of Homeopathy's meeting, 1891, reports a difference of 50% of patients discharged from the homeopathic mental hospitals in the State
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He was an active member of the American Institute of Homeopathy and is quoted as saying, "Homeopathy is wholly capable of satisfying the therapeutic demands of this age better than any other system or school of medicine." "It is imperative that we exhaust the homeopathic healing art before resorting to any other mode of treatment, if we wish to accomplish the greatest success possible." (Menninger, 1897)
Davidson has noted that there are similarities between modern psychiatry and homeopathy. Recent neurobiological research tends to validate old homeopathic concepts. Psychotherapeutic techniques tend to elicit the patient's symptoms, in a controlled manner, in order to heal the patient. Such is the case in cognitive, behavioral as well as psychoanalytic treatments. In his article Davidson discusses other points such as the self-healing principle, the microdose effect, disappearance of the symptoms in reverse order of their appearance, and diagnosis by pattern recognition of the symptoms. (Davidson,
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Obviously, the clinician must weigh the risks and benefits of a homeopathic intervention especially in situations when there are demonstrably effective conventional treatments and when the patient is either acutely psychotic or suicidal. There are several limitations in that study, as presented by the author, and only larger, double-blind, controlled, trials can provide answers to the questions that arise when using homeopathy in the treatment of disease, in general, and in psychiatry in particular. (Davidson,