Homeopathy is the kind of thing that causes a lot of medical practitioners and scientists to cringe, shake their heads and even grow very frustrated. Considering that homeopathic practitioners are often prone to operating without any sort of reliance on the scientific method, believing only that ailments can be cured through like treatments (but without objectively testing the basis of such a concept), a lot of medical professionals and scientists scoff at homeopathy. Considering that in a lot of cases, homeopathic medicine consists of diluting a “medicine” to the point where little to none of the original substance remains, it is very possible that the entire notion is just a placebo for people who want to believe.
Of course, when a placebo works effectively (again, based on the belief of the individual patient), there is no reason why it should be stopped. In a lot of countries, for instance, there are actually certifications which are used to designate which homeopathic practitioners are practicing safely, and which ones are potentially harmful quacks who may accidentally (or even carelessly) harm someone. It is very useful to make sure that, in the cases of homeopathic treatments, a person is not ingesting anything which could cause them worse harm than their original ailment.
Another problem which can come up through the use of homeopathic medicine is when it actively discourages its patients from seeking out more traditional treatments. If you have an infection, you can always get plenty of bed rest, take a homeopathic treatment and hope for the best. However, in some cases you would also be well advised to take an antibiotic, so that your condition will get better instead of worse. Otherwise, you may well encounter the same sort of problem that a lot of religious people have faced in the past, where they believed that their faith alone would heal them, which caused many deaths.
