What is the philosophy of Naturopathy?

Naturopathic medicine is typically defined by the training required from its practitioners, as well as especially the tools available that are used to treat patients. Naturopathic doctors in North America will often describe the requirements for their degree, which is a 4 year professional program done typically after the achievement of a Bachelor's or undergraduate degree. To the public though, naturopathic doctors are typically known as practitioners who use natural medicines such as herbs, nutrition, diet, and often "detoxification".

In history though, the original naturopathic practitioners were typically medical doctors. The allopathic medicine tools at the time were quite crude and toxic, often including large dosages of toxic substances, rather than the refined options for pharmaceutical agents available today. The first naturopathic doctors were medical doctors who used methods such as fasting, hydrotherapy, heat, and nutrition as some of their main modalities for treating patients.

Modern Philosophy of Naturopathy

The philosophy of naturopathy has contemporarily been distilled into a set of principles that are detailed by naturopathic physicians Pam Snider and Jared Zeff which have been published as Unifying Principles of Naturopathic Medicine _Origins and Definitions.

In this article, the authors describe the early history of naturopathic medicin in North American and then define common principles that have guided both education and practice in naturopathic medicine.

Principles of Naturopathic Medicine

The Healing Power of Nature

While often there is thought to be a mystical process to this, it would be more accurate to recognize the healing power of nature as being the inherent homeostatic and healing ability of any organism. There is no doubt that bruises heal, and that most recover from minor ailments without any intervention being needed. This is the healing power of nature facilitating self-repair.

Note this is different from simply using natural products in place of synthetic medicines. The healing power of nature does not mean using the herbal equivalent of aspirin, white willow, for pain and fever - rather, it means facilitating the body's response to an illness. In the most simple example, this might be illustrated in the sample of a cold or flu virus, in which the fever is a response by the body to facilitate clearance of a virus. A naturopathic approach in line with this principle might encourage other ways of supporting the immune system (other that the body's fever response, which stimulates the immune system as well) and could include micronutrients or herbs and other therapies.

Identify and Treat the Causes

This principle is shared with other health professions as well. There may be differing opinions though on how deep a search for a cause must go though. Again in the simple example of a cold or flu, most would recognize that the cold virus is the cause of the runny nose, fever, and fatigue, and that it would resolve on its own in a few days or a week.

A naturopathic approach might take this philosophy a step further, particularly if a patient was prone to getting much more frequent colds than normal. Thus, the cause might go a bit deeper than the cold virus, and rather look for reasons why frequent infections might occur. Depending on the practitioner as well as the patient history, this might involve a look into stress, sleep factors, or even things such as food sensitivities or toxicities that might be burdening the self-regulatory capability. Note that other health practitioners would also look for such issues especially the more common ones such as stress and poor sleep as well.

First Do No Harm

This is another principle that is in common with almost all health professions. The philosophy of naturopathy indicates that medicines which minimize the risk of side effects are preferred of course, but also suggests that:

the least possible force or intervention necessary to diagnose illness and restore health

Generally, this refers to the preference for gentle diagnostic and therapeutic methods. This might look like diet, stress reduction, and sleep being the most gentle (and very important!) being initially preferred, and then depending on the practitioner and the patient, perhaps micronutrients and herbs, before stronger options such as pharmaceuticals.

Of note though, this is a discussion of the philosophy of naturopathy, and in practice, individual real world cases will dictate whether multiple modalities are used at once or if stronger approaches might be needed from the start.

Additionally:

Whenever possible the suppression of symptoms is avoided as suppression generally interferes with the healing process. Naturopathic physicians respect and work with the vis medicatrix naturae in diagnosis, treatment and counseling, for if this self -healing process is not respected the patient may be harmed

The vis medicatrix naturae refers to the healing power of nature. This statement suggests that symptoms may be an important part of the healing process - again, going back to the example that a fever can help the immune system fight off a viral infection. Very importantly, it very much depends on the case as to whether or not symptoms may need to be suppressed in practice. If the fever is too high, in this example, there can be serious damage that occurs if the symptoms are not managed.

Naturopathic Doctor as Teacher

This is self-explanatory, and the focus is mainly to emphasize that the naturopathic doctor should be aiming to develop a good relationship with the patient and educate on self-responsibility for health. This might include education on diet, stress management, etc.

Treat the Whole Person

Holistic medicine used to be a more popular term, and generally described looking at mind-body medicine, as well as emotional health. The philosophy of naturopathy would include this mental, physical and emotional health, and would also include genetic, environmental, and social health. Snider and Zeff in their article also describe encouragement of spiritual development.

Prevention

Prevention of disease is important in all aspects of health care, naturopathic medicine included. In naturopathic philosophy, this principle includes looking at risk factors that may include genetic as well as environmental and behavioural risk factors. Further, it is the recognition that a healthy environment (such as reducing pollution) is also important for general health.

Conclusion

Naturopathic medicine is defined fundamentally with a focus on supporting the body's ability to heal. While disease and symptom control can be and often are important, the main focus of a naturopathic approach in practice is to remove obstacles to cure and to stimulate endogenous healing.

Different naturopathic doctors will have different approaches, and it is important for the patient to be comfortable with their practitioner. Our approach often will look at establishing a supportive base for healing (with things such as optimizing sleep, activity and exercise if capable, reduction of stress)