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Naturopathic way
By Orna Izakson

Tired of feeling like assembly-line widgets when they go to the doctor's office, many Americans are turning to a form of health care that relies on natural medicines that have been healing humans for centuries.

Known as naturopathic medicine or naturopathy, the field was born officially 100 years ago, though many of its practices can be traced back to the dawn of both Eastern and Western medicine. Naturopaths rely on an amalgam of herbs, nutritional supplements, dietary advice, physical manipulation, counseling, and homeopathy (the use of extremely diluted solutions to cure what the same substances in concentrated form would cause). Their philosophy holds that "nature cures," and that addressing the underlying causes of a disease-not just its symptoms-allows the body to heal itself.

"Naturopathic philosophy has a recognition that before treating a disease you have to establish the basis for health," explains Dr. Pamela Snider, a naturopathic physician More...

Naturopathic medicine:
What can patients expect?
Naturopathic care—covered by many major carriers — can complement customary clinical practice

Practice recommendations

Patients who inquire about naturopathy will want to know that clinical tools typically include nutrition evaluation and dietary revision, counseling for lifestyle modification, botanical medicine,
homeopathy, physical medicine, and mind-body therapies.

Advise patients who wish to seek naturopathic care to contact the state licensing authority to learn the scope of naturopathic practice allowed in their local area.

What can patients expect when they seek a naturopathic
approach to disease management?
A case presented in this article illustrates the applications of naturopathy in practice (see Naturopathic approach to one patient’s case: A summary, on pages 1068–1069). Naturopathic physicians (NDs) diagnose and treat conditions typically seen in a “first contact” setting. They are not trained in the advanced use of highly
technical conventional therapies for lifethreateningdiseases. Rather, they focus primarily on health issues encountered in
out-patient ambulatory care settings (see Naturopathic training).
Though some tools of naturopathic practice differ from those of conventional practice, the goals of naturopathic medicine
parallel those of family medicine More...

Which alternative medicines work?
Consumer Reports August 2005 Report