What Is Naturopathic Medicine?
By Abida Zohal Wali, ND and Kelly Cohn, ND
Naturopathic medicine is a distinct and comprehensive system of primary health care that uses traditional healing wisdom and modern medical knowledge to support and stimulate the body’s self-healing process.
As primary care providers, the naturopathic approach is to hear each patient’s story, understand their unique health presentation, and address each health concern. After thorough clinical evaluation and diagnosis, a comprehensive, individualized treatment program is created, drawing from various natural therapies, to produce the safest and most effective therapeutic outcome.
Naturopathic care is guided by the following principles:
• Do No Harm
• Naturopathic medicine provides the most effective therapeutic outcome using the least force necessary to restore health while avoiding harmful side effects and suppression of symptoms.
• The Healing Power of Nature
• Every living organism has the ability to heal itself. Naturopathic doctors aim to support and facilitate the self-healing process within each individual by using methods in harmony with this natural healing power.
• Identify and Treat the Cause
• Naturopathic doctors do not just treat symptoms, but rather use them as a guide to recognize and remove underlying causes of illness.
• Doctor as Teacher
• Naturopathic doctors encourage patients to take an active role in their health and act as a guide along their path to wellness. They provide patients with the tools and resources necessary to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• Treat the Whole Person
• Naturopathic doctors take into account every aspect of a person’s health. They create individualized treatment plans based on the physical, mental, emotional, environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors unique to each individual. Naturopaths also order laboratory tests and imaging studies as needed and collaborate with other health care practitioners or refer patients to specialists when appropriate.
• Prevention
The key to maintaining lifelong health and wellness is strengthening the components that support healthy living and minimizing risk factors that predispose individuals to disease.
Education
Naturopathic doctors attend one of only four accredited naturopathic medical schools in the country. Naturopathic doctors are required to complete a four-year, graduate-level medical education and training that involves two years of medical sciences and two years of clinical science with emphasis in clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, pharmacology, and minor surgery.
Licensure
Graduates from an accredited naturopathic medical college must pass national board licensing examinations in order to practice medicine in one of the fourtneen licensed states. In these states, doctors are required to graduate from an approved four-year naturopathic medical school and pass a postdoctoral board examination (NPLEX) in order to receive a license. Licensed naturopathic physicians must also fulfill state-mandated continuing education requirements annually. In California, licensing is regulated by the California Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine, which defines the scope of practice for naturopathic doctors.
In states with licensing laws, it is important to distinguish between naturopathic physicians who have received graduate-level education and training from an accredited four-year medical school and traditional naturopaths with only correspondence or online training. While traditional naturopaths are considered healers, they have limited scope of practice and training, therefore, they are health consultants, not doctors.
Naturopathic doctors are licensed primary care physicians trained to diagnose and treat acute and chronic medical conditions following the principles of naturopathic medicine. Their strong belief in the self-healing ability of each individual guides their approach to treatment. As experts in natural medicine, naturopaths utilize a variety of therapeutic modalities which are the most efficient, use the least force necessary, and provide the most effective therapeutic outcome.
To Learn More About Naturopathy visit http://www.naturopathic.org/
Doctors Abida Zohal Wali and Kelly Cohn are naturopathic physicians and the founders of the Ocean Pacific Integrative Health Center in Carlsbad. You can contact them at 425-750-3983 or visit them online at www.opintegrativecenter.com.