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Naturopathy is a form of healthcare that combines modern treatment with traditional methods. It includes alternative, natural therapies to modern medicine. People visit naturopathic practitioners for various health-related purposes, including primary care, overall well-being, and treatment of illnesses.
Principles of Naturopathy
- Healing power of nature: The body can heal itself, given the right condition and treatment. There is a vital force which is stimulated to promote health.
- Holistic treatment: Recognise a patient’s individuality by taking into account individual physical, mental, genetic, environmental, social, and other factors.
- Treat the cause, not the symptom: Identify the underlying cause of illness rather than eliminating (suppressing) symptoms.
- Prevention is preferable to cure in order to keep the vital force at all times at its optimum.
- Education: The naturopath educates his patients by bringing a better understanding of health, how to maintain it and how to avoid getting sick. This way the patient can take responsibility for himself.
Treatment Approaches
- Dietary and lifestyle changes
- Stress reduction
- Herbs and other dietary supplements
- Homeopathy
- Manipulative therapies
- Exercise therapy
- Practitioner-guided detoxification
- Psychotherapy and counseling
Advantages
- Naturopaths work on a more personal level, spending more time covering individual needs. They create treatment plans that consider all aspects of a person.
- Naturopathy can be useful alongside modern medicine, and many say these methods allow the body to activate self-healing mechanisms.
- Naturopathic healthcare can also be a cheaper alternative to conventional healthcare.
Disadvantages
- Studies in naturopathic treatments often have small sample sizes and lack supporting scientific evidence. Studies into it have not shown it to be consistently effective.
- The medicine is not as effective and efficient to treat the medical emergencies.
- The dose is a matter of trial and error. Each body has its own system of working and its methods to react to something so it takes a lot of time for the person to get used to a particular medicine.
