The difference is that homeopathy attempts to stimulate the body to recover itself. While on the other hand conventional medicines have an overspecialized and compartmentalized approach. Many people hence feel skeptical about taking prescription medications, which have long lists of potential side effects. 
 
        Homeopathy provides a safe, effective, natural, nontoxic treatment for many acute and chronic illnesses. Homeopathy is safe even for newborns, pregnant women, the elderly, and animals. It uses only natural substances that are gently yet extremely effective when used properly. Homeopathic medicines are highly individualized. Ten different people with coughs are likely to need ten different homeopathic medicines. Homeopathy individualizes rather than stereotypes. The medicines are inexpensive and often work rapidly. They address mental, emotional as well as physical complaints, and they treat the whole person. 
 
        In conventional medical thought, health is seen simply as the absence of disease. To a person versed in homeopathy, health is much more than that. A healthy person is a person who is free on all levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. Obviously, a person with a broken leg is not free, on the physical level, to move around. But on a more subtle level, a person who cannot eat certain foods or is allergic to certain materials is also experiencing a lack of freedom. The homeopath recognizes such limitations and attempts through the use of  properly selected remedies to restore the person to health and freedom. 
 
         An important basic difference exists between conventional medical therapy and homeopathy. In conventional therapy, the aim often is to control the illness through regular use of medical substances, even if the medication is nothing more than vitamins. If the medication is withdrawn, however, the person returns to illness. Homeopathy's aim on the other hand is the cure: "The complete restoration of perfect health," as Dr. Samuel Hahnemann said.