NMN – What is Naturopathic Medicine

PHILOSOPHY
Naturopathic Medicine is a distinctively natural approach to
health and healing that recognizes the integrity of the whole
person. Naturopathic Medicine is heir to the vitalistic tradition of
medicine in the Western world, emphasizing the treatment of disease
through the stimulation, enhancement, and support of the
inherent healing capacity of the person. Methods of treatments are
chosen to work with the patient’s vital force, respecting the
intelligence of the natural healing process. The practice of Naturopathic Medicine
emerges from six underlying principles of healing. These principles
are based on the objective observation of the nature of health and
disease, and are continually reexamined in light of scientific
analysis. It is these principles that distinguish the profession
from other medical approaches:

• The healing power of nature. vis medicatrix
  naturae
  The body has the inherent ability to establish, maintain, and
  restore health. The healing process is ordered and intelligent;
  nature heals through the response of the life force. The
  physician’s role is to facilitate and augment this process, to act
  to identify and remove obstacles to health and recovery, and to
  support the creation of a healthy internal and external
  environment.

• Identify and treat the cause. tolle causam
  Illness does not occur without cause. Underlying causes of disease
  must be discovered and removed or treated before a person can
  recover completely from illness. Symptoms are expressions of the
  body’s attempt to heal, but are not the cause of disease. Symptoms,
  therefore, should not be suppressed by treatment. Causes may occur
  on many levels including physical, mental, emotional, and
  spiritual. The physician must evaluate fundamental underlying
  causes on all levels, directing treatment at root causes rather
  than at symptomatic expression.

• First do no harm. primum no nocere
  Illness is a purposeful process of the organism. The process of
  healing includes the generation of symptoms which are, in fact, an
  expression of the life force attempting to heal itself. Therapeutic
  actions should be complimentary to and synergistic with this
  healing process. The physician’s actions can support or antagonize
  the actions of the vis medicatrix naturae. Therefore, methods
  designed to suppress symptoms without removing underlying causes
  are considered harmful and are avoided or minimized.

• Treat the whole person. The multifactorial nature of
  health and disease
  Health and disease are conditions of the whole organism, a whole
  involving a complex interaction of physical, spiritual, mental,
  emotional, genetic, environmental, social, and other factors. The
  physician must treat the whole person by taking all of these
  factors into account. The harmonious functioning of all aspects of
  the individual is essential to recovery from and prevention of
  disease, and requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to
  diagnosis and treatment.

• The physician as teacher. docere
  Beyond an accurate diagnosis and appropriate prescription, the
  physician must work to create a healthy, sensitive interpersonal
  relationship with the patient. A cooperative doctor-patient
  relationship has inherent therapeutic value. The physician’s major
  role is to educate and encourage the patient to take responsibility
  for health. The physician is a catalyst for healthful change,
  empowering and motivating the patient to assume responsibility. It
  is the patient, not the doctor, who ultimately creates/accomplishes
  healing. The physician must strive to inspire hope as well as
  understanding. The physician must also make a commitment to his/her
  personal and spiritual development in order to be a good teacher.

• Prevention. Prevention is the best “cure”
  The ultimate goal of any health care system should be prevention.
  This is accomplished through education and promotion of life-habits
  that create good health. The physician assesses risk factors and
  hereditary susceptibility to disease and makes appropriate
  interventions to avoid further harm and risk to the patient. The
  emphasis is on building health rather than on fighting disease.

PRACTICE
Naturopathic philosophy serves as the basis for naturopathic
practice. The current scope of naturopathic practice includes, but
is not limited to:

• Clinical Nutrition
  That food is the best medicine is a cornerstone of naturopathic
  practice. Many medical conditions can be treated more effectively
  with foods and nutritional supplements than they can by other
  means, with fewer complications and side effects. Naturopathic
  physicians use dietetics, natural hygiene, fasting, and nutritional
  supplementation in practice.

• Botanical Medicine
  Many plant substances are powerful medicines. Where single
  chemically-derived drugs may only address a single problem,
  botanical medicines are able to address a variety of problems
  simultaneously. Their organic nature makes botanicals compatible
  with the body’s own chemistry; hence, they can be gently effective
  with few toxic side effects.

• Homeopathic Medicine
  Homeopathic medicine is based on the principle of “like cures like.” It works on a subtle yet powerful electromagnetic level, gently acting to strengthen the body’s healing and immune response.

• Physical Medicine
  Naturopathic Medicine has its own methods of therapeutic manipulation of muscles, bones, and spine. N.D.’s also use ultrasound, diathermy, exercise, massage, water, heat and cold, air, and gentle electrical pulses.

• Oriental Medicine
  Oriental medicine is a complimentary healing philosophy to
  naturopathic medicine. Meridian theory offers an important
  understanding of the unity of the body and mind, and adds to the
  Western understanding of physiology. Acupuncture provides a method
  of treatment which can unify and harmonize the imbalances present
  in disease conditions, which, if untreated, can result in illness.

• Naturopathic Obstetrics
  Naturopathic physicians provide natural childbirth care in an
  out-of-hospital setting. They offer prenatal and postnatal care
  using modern diagnostic techniques. The naturopathic approach
  strengthens healthy body functions so that complications associated
  with pregnancy may be prevented.

• Psychological Medicine
  Mental attitudes and emotional states may influence, or even cause,
  physical illness. Counseling, nutritional balancing, stress
  management, hypnotherapy, biofeedback, and other therapies are used
  to help patients heal on the psychological level.

• Minor Surgery
  As general practitioners, N.D.’s do in office-minor surgery including repair of superficial wounds, removal of foreign bodies, cysts, and other superficial masses.