Naturopathy is a system of healthcare that emphasizes wellness and prevention of disease through education and use of non-invasive natural treatments to boost the body' s natural healing tendencies. Naturopathy is not one system of medical care but a combination of many. The Naturopathic physician draws on a variety of disciplines, including herbal medicine, exercise therapy, physical therapy, nutrition, acupuncture or acupressure, meridian therapy, and lifestyle counseling. Most N.D.s specialize in one or more of the treatments.

Naturopathic doctors (N.D.s) have participated in a specialized course of study and received degrees in naturopathy. Like many of the natural healing systems, naturopathic medicine traces its roots to the philosophical principles of Hippocrates. A Greek physician who lived in 500 BC, Hippocrates taught that the cause of disease could be found in nature and so the cure could be found in nature as well. He also taught that the body has its own power to heal, that the natural tendency of the body is to be well.

History of the Healing Form

Dr. Benedict Lust founded the first naturopathy college, the American School of Naturopathy in New York City, and graduated the first class in 1902. The school emphasized eliminating harmful habits—including use of alcohol and nicotine, immoderate sleeping and eating patterns, and eating meat—and improving the patient' s health with exercise, proper breathing, sensible and balanced diet, and a positive mental outlook. Baths of every type were commonly prescribed: Turkish, mud, steam, sitz. Fasting and skeletal manipulation were also important.

Naturopathy flourished with 20 naturopathic schools throughout the United States, and naturopathic physicians were licensed to practice in nearly every state.

Until the mid-1930s naturopathy and the AMA coexisted fairly well with many MDs incorporating forms of naturopathic healing into their practices, particularly herbs and baths. As the chemists' labs cranked up in the 1930s, MDs began prescribing pharmaceutical drugs instead of homeopathic or herbal remedies. Between the two world wars great strides were made in surgical techniques. Advances in surgery and the development of pharmaceutical drugs combined to sweep mainstream medicine towards a more technological approach to healthcare. The influence of powerful pharmaceutical companies convinced both the government and the public that theirs was a superior approach to healthcare. If the new synthetic chemical medicine was good, politicians reasoned, then other healthcare systems must be bad. State legislatures passed legislation severely limiting the practice of medicine other than by members of the AMA.
The major principles of Naturopathy:

1. Do No Harm: Use only therapies or procedures which will enhance and healing and produce wellness. Since prescription medication has potential to make a well man sick, how can it be expected to make a sick man well?

2. Recognize the healing power of nature: The human body is created with the capacity to heal itself and to maintain homeostasis. Naturopathy works in harmony with nature in supporting the inherent natural healing systems of the body.

3. Identify the cause: Allopathic doctors (MDs) seek to treat joint pain by reducing joint pain with pain killers, nerve blockers or other procedures. Naturopaths seek to find and remove the cause of the pain, which might be a mineral deficiency caused by a nutritional deficiency. The cause of joint pain might be from an injury or an over acid condition of the body. For naturopaths the correction of the cause restores health and causes the symptoms to disappear.

4. Involve the total person: You cannot be well or healthy if you have a spiritual or mental problem even if you appear well. Naturopathy recognizes that a person can have a physical, spiritual or emotional illness, and the therapy is determined by the kind of problem. Counseling, stress management, bio-feedback techniques as well as spiritual counseling are engaged.

5. Teach rather than Treat: The responsibility for wellness lies with the individual. We are the steward of our body, and the doctor is the teacher or advisor on how to maintain health. A headache is not an aspirin deficiency but the result of some imbalance within the body; some principle of health has been violated, and the body responds with pain. Naturopaths evaluate the condition and advise or teach their clients what lifestyle, nutritional, emotional or dietary changes should be made to alleviate the condition.

6. Identify the Source: Except in trauma-type injuries, the body seldom experiences one-factor conditions. Dis-ease is a consequence of a number of health debilitating events. Germs are considered in Naturopathy a normal part of the ecology with the task of destroying weak and devitalized tissues; to end dis-ease, then, the body tissues have to be revitalized so that germs are not attracted. This approach to wellness contrasts with the "attack germs" mentality of allopathic medicine and the current dangerous practice of "anti-bacterial" compounds in every sort of household soap.

7. Prevent Disease: Naturopaths advise clients on simple principles of disease prevention designed to generate health and avoid the destructive consequences of violating these principles.

What to Expect

On your visit the naturopathic doctor will gather your medical history, inquire about your diet, and discuss any stress you are experiencing. Noninvasive tests such as tongue and pulse checks, iridology, or kinesthetics may be used to evaluate your body' s condition. The choice of tests depends upon the Naturopathic Doctor' s particular training.

As with all health care practitioners, a degree from an accredited institution, in this case a College of Naturopathy, should be framed on the wall. Four states require insurance companies to pay for services of N.D.s: Connecticut, Montana, Washington, and Alaska.
Experiences

A college student' s visit to the Naturopath was precipitated by complaints of stomach aches, stress, and inability to focus when studying. The sum result was serious fatigue. Discussion revealed that the young woman ate her meals with a drink of water to chase each bite of food; this practice seriously impairs the ability of saliva and stomach acids to digest food properly. (Her choices in foods and quantities were sensible and balanced nutrition.) In her busy schedule of studying and holding a job she made no time for exercise, meditation or relaxation.

The Naturopath' s advice: reduce or eliminate drinking water with her meals to aid digestion. (Grandma' s advice was correct: You are what you eat. Without balanced nutrition properly digested you can' t get to GO!) Set up an exercise schedule so that the body can relax and then the mind will be able to focus on studying. (She tried Mom' s recommendation of yoga but found kickboxing was more suitable for her temperament.) The doctor also advised B-50 vitamins and SAM-E for nutritional support, and to increase resistance to recurring respiratory infections, she boosted Vitamin C to 2 grams of buffered, time-released pills morning and night.