For most types of medicine, you are given a theory for why you are ill, and then the treatment is given for that theory.  If you have an autoimmune disease, you are given something that targets your immune system. 

Homeopathy, in contrast, never tries to find a theory for why you are sick.  It focuses on what your symptoms are, and triggers your body’s healing mechanisms.  So if you have psoriasis (an autoimmune condition) that has itching, burning and flaking skin, a homeopathic remedy triggers the body’s healing mechanisms that repair itching, burning and flaking skin. 

Does this mean it helped the psoriasis person’s immune system?

Maybe. 

The thing is, that while we have theories about why psoriasis happens, we don’t know beyond a shadow of a doubt.  So maybe homeopathy heals by improving the immune system.  But maybe it works another way.  We really don’t know. What we know is that you feel better, and for me, that’s all I really care about.

Beware though, that often on the internet or in books, you will see homeopaths or others saying that homeopathy improves your immune system because you are less likely to get colds and flus when you use homeopathy regularly. 

There is an important difference between fact and theory here.  The fact is that many people feel they get less colds and flus when they use homeopathy regularly.  The theory about why this is true is that your immune system is strengthened.  But we do not have research to back that theory up.  We don’t really know what’s going on at a mechanistic level. 

Maybe this feels like a bummer – I know many people are focused on strengthening their immune system in one way or another.  But think of it this way.  Maybe you get colds often, which leaves you with the theory that your immune system needs to be strengthened.  But maybe the reality is that you have too much inflammation, and that’s why you keep getting sick.  Homeopathy, because it is based on your symptoms, works anyway!  So if you are suffering somehow, homeopathy might work, no matter whether it is truly because your immune system needs to be strengthened or not!