Embedded Files
Naturopathic Medicine seems like an odd term. It helps to know that conventional medicine is really allopathic medicine "the use of pharmacologically active agents or physical interventions to treat or suppress symptoms." The allopathic tradition is thousands of years younger than most world healing traditions. It's success has been largely fueled by the discovery of antibiotics, but as antibiotics fail us, the allopathic model can leave something to be desired.
In comparison, Naturopathic Medicine engages with the normal healing process of a person's body. We're seeing more immune boosting models entering into conventional medicine, but the underlying assumption is that the body helps the drug. From a Naturopathic viewpoint, all healing arises from the body with the drug or herb or diet or lifestyle choice helping the body heal.
WebMD categorizes Naturopathic Doctors says "The goal of naturopathic medicine is to treat the whole person -- that means mind, body, and spirit. It also aims to heal the root causes of an illness -- not just stop the symptoms."
The NIH would classify me as a Naturopathic Physician, a term Maine doesn't allow, I'm a Naturopathic Doctor here. Except in the yellow pages (remember those?)
Google Sites
Report abuse