Classical Homeopathy consists is very similar to what Hahnemann prescribed when he first discovered Homeopathy. Classical Homeopathy consists of examing the person and individually prescribing the correct homeopathic remedy for them.
Classical Homeopathy also looks at the constitiutional types of people to determine the right remedy. Classically trained homeopaths will ask a series of questions to determine the constitiutional type of the person. The homeopathic remedies will then be prescribed mostly one at a time based on the individual person. Remedies may need to be changed and potencies may need to be decrease or increased depending on how the patient is doing with the condition that they have.
Classical Homeopathy aims to treat the whole person(mental, physical and emotional) not just the symptoms of the diesease or illness. Different individuals may be prescribed different homeopathic remedies for the same condition. If an individual has a bad head cold, a classical homeopathic could prescribe him Belladonna based on his symptoms and consititutional type. Another individual who also has a bad head cold, make take Pullstilla to relieve this condition because he has a different personality type.
Modern Homeopathy is pretty much a shotgun approach. Many homeopathic remedies may be taken at one time to help cure an illness or diesease. Popular examples of modern homeopathy are combination remedies such as Calms Forte.
Calms Forte helps cure mild insomnia. It uses a combination of homeopathic remedies that different individual types may use to cure insomnia. Calms Forte has been used successfully by many people to cure insomnia. However, classically trained homeopaths discourage using combination remedies when treating serious conditons. Severe insomnia may need to be treated by prescribing one remedy at a time depending on the person's constitional type.
Homeopathy trials with classical homeopathy have been very few. The few trials with classical homeopathy have been encouraging so far.
A total of 32 trials (28 placebo-controlled, 2 comparing homeopathy and another treatment, 2 comparing both) involving a total of 1778 patients met the inclusion criteria for classical homeopathy. The methodological quality of the trials was highly variable. Some individuals were prescribed a homeopathic remedy based on their constitutional type and others were given placebos.
The authors conclusion was that the results of the available randomized trials suggest that classical homeopathy has an effect over placebo. The evidence is not convincing because of trial short comings and inconsistiencies. More research is needed on classical homeopathy.
References
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.1998.4.371?journalCode=acm
