Interview with Dana Ullman

I discovered Dr Paul Gachet, the protagonist of Mesmerised, quite a few years ago when reading The Homeopathic Revolution by Dana Ullman.  I recently managed to track down Dana and he has very kindly agreed to answer some of my questions for this blog.

Can you say a little bit about yourself and your relationship to homeopathy?           

My father was a physician who specialized in pediatric allergy. He was professor emeritus at UCLA School of Medicine.  His treatment advocated the use of small doses of an allergen to improve tolerance in an individual and to reduce the hypersensitive state of a suffering patient.  Administering small doses of a similar substance to evoke cure is termed the law of similars. It is the basic principle of homeopathic medicine and is an integral part of my gene pool. 

The Homeopathic Revolution is a fascinating book that lists all the famous people throughout history who have used homeopathy, and there were many. What inspired you to write it?

In January 2006, Coretta Scott King (the wife of the legendary Martin Luther King) died in an alternative medicine hospital in Mexico.  According to her family, she went to this hospital due to her special interest in homeopathic medicine.  Upon hearing of Ms. King’s appreciation for homeopathy, I was inspired to collate the names of cultural heroes throughout the past 200 years who were advocates of homeopathy.  Through my research I discovered many more famous people had a connection with homeopathy than I had previously imagined.

           

 Can you tell us any anecdotes about your research? 

           

 One day, an old customer came into my store to look around.  When I told him that I had begun working on a book about famous people and homeopathy, he told me that Charles Darwin was known to have benefited from this form of medicine.  I had heard this too, but I was skeptical, so I went  to the UC Berkeley library  to read and review the large numbers of letters to and from Darwin. Much to my surprise, Charles Darwin had received homeopathic treatment from a Dr. James Manby Gully 10 years before the completion of his seminal book, The Origin of Species.

 Is the The Homeopathic Revolution still available and where can people buy it in the UK?

  

The Homeopathic Revolution is available through all good homeopathic book sellers and leading online bookstores such as Amazon.

 DANA ULLMAN, MPH, CCH has authored 10 books and writes a regularly for www.huffingtonpost.com. His website is www.homeopathic.com