- People visit naturopathic practitioners for various health-related purposes, including primary care.
- Naturopathy focuses on treatments considered by practitioners to be “natural,” but they may not be without risk.
- Although some of the individual therapies used in naturopathy have been studied for efficacy and safety, naturopathy as a general approach to health care has not been widely researched.
- Naturopathic practitioners may vary widely in education and training, licensing, and treatment preferences.
- Tell your health care providers about any complementary and alternative practices you use. Give them a full picture of what you do to manage your health. This will help ensure coordinated and safe care.
Underlying Principles
The practice of naturopathy is based on principles that are similar to and consistent with the principles of primary care medicine as practiced by conventional physicians.
These include:
- First, do no harm. Try to minimize harmful side effects and avoid suppression of symptoms.
- Physician as a teacher. Educate patients and encourage them to take responsibility for their own health.
- Treat the whole person. Consider all factors (e.g., physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, genetic, environmental, social) when tailoring treatment to each patient.
- Prevention. Assess risk factors and, in partnership with patients, make appropriate interventions to prevent illness.
- Healing power of nature. Seek to identify and remove obstacles to the body’s natural processes for maintaining and restoring health.
- Treat the cause. Focus on the causes of a disease or condition, rather than its symptoms.