Allopathic medicine was first used by the Samuel Hahnemann to describe medicine other than homeopathy. Hahnemann used this term with malice to describe the ignorance of the disharmony a disease causes in the body and the preoccupation of symptoms [1].
At the time, allopathic was considered derogatory and indicative of poor medical consideration. The use of allopathy has evolved to now refer, without the negative context, to conventional, modern medicine that may be labeled as any of the following:
- Conventional
- Mainstream
- Western
- Orthodox
Allopathic medicine can be further characterized by listing common modalities of therapies:
- Pharmaceutical Medications
- Surgery
- Radiation
References
- Whorton J.C. (2004). “Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America,” Oxford University Press US (ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 18, 52