Naturopathic Medicine
Naturopathic medicine is a primary healthcare system based on the recognition that the human organism has an incredible self-healing capacity. Naturopathic medicine supports this self-healing potential using an eclectic mix of traditional therapies. The therapies used by naturopathic doctors include lifestyle counseling, clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, traditional Asian medicine, homeopathic medicine, acupuncture, physical therapies, and hydrotherapy. In their own way, each therapy supports the self-healing efforts of the body. The naturopathic physician selects appropriate modalities to use on a given individual patient based on traditional knowledge, modern research, and clinical experience. This practice of medicine is at once founded on the healing wisdom of many centuries and a distillation of current scientific research. This makes naturopathic medicine truly a mix of art and science.
Fundamental Principles of Naturopathic Medicine
• First, do no harm
• Support the self-healing potential of the body
• Address the fundamental causes of disease whenever possible
• Treat the whole person through individualized treatment
• Teach the principles of healthy living and preventive medicine
Naturopathic Medical Tradition [B]
Naturopathic medicine developed from the ancient Greek medical tradition founded by Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, based on the premise that the body has an inherent ability to heal, referred to in Latin as Vis Medicatrix Naturae (Healing Power of Nature). The human being was considered by the ancient Greek physicians to be a dynamic creation of body, mind, and spirit that was more than the sum of its parts.
These premises informed the founding of the naturopathic medical profession at the turn of the 20th century by a group of European and American physicians dedicated to the practice of botanical medicine, homeopathy, spinal manipulation, hydrotherapy, and nutritional therapy. Their vision was to educate a profession of medical practitioners who could synthesize the techniques, observations, and practices of many healing modalities. A name was needed for this profession: naturopathy, a neologism from the Latin for nature and the Greek for suffering, was chosen.
While naturopathic medicine thrived in the early 20th century under the influence of such notable physicians as Dr Benedict Lust and Dr Henry Lindlahr, the profession was eclipsed by surgical and pharmaceutical technological therapies. Naturopathic medical training was revived in the 1950s by Dr John Bastyr, after whom Bastyr University is named. Today there are six colleges of naturopathic medicine in North America: Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington; National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon; Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona; Bridgeport University College of Naturopathic Medicine in Bridgeport, Connecticut; The Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia; and The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, Ontario.
Together these institutions have an enrollment of more than 2,000 students. The curriculum is standardized and there is an accrediting body, The Council of Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME), which is recognized by the United States Department of Education. Graduates write international (Canada and the United States) licensing exams, which are known as the Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Exams (NPLEX). Upon passing NPLEX, they are eligible to practice in jurisdictions where naturopathic medicine is regulated.
Recently, naturopathic medicine has been given many alternative names — alternative, complementary, integrative, and holistic, to name a few. Regardless of the term used, one or more modalities of naturopathic medicine are now used by an estimated of 42% of the North American population. Visits to natural healthcare practitioners exceed visits to conventional primary care physicians by over 200 million visits a year. North Americans spend more than an estimated $30 billion a year on these services. Many diabetes patients are seeking the advice of a naturopathic doctor for primary care or to complement the care already being received by conventional allopathic physicians.
