Naturopathic Medicine is the practice of assisting in the health of patients through the application of natural remedies. Most naturopaths consider their care complementary, not supplementary, to the care a traditional medical professional.
There are two groups of healers who call themselves naturopaths:
The naturopathic physician holds a naturopathic medical degrees. These practitioners are often licensed (twelve states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and five Canadian provinces offer licenses) and are sometimes registered (as in Kansas).
The second group refer to themselves as traditional naturopaths.
In Puerto Rico, they each hold separate licenses which allows both their own different scopes of practice.
The two groups have recently held much animosity toward each other and been in recent legal battles.
Naturopathic medicine went into decline, along with most other natural health professions, after the 1930s. Lust's death, conflict between various schools of natural medicine (homeopathy, Eclectics, Physio-Medicalism, herbalism, naturopathic medicine, etc.), the rise of medical technology, and consolidation of political power in convention medicine were all contributing factors. In 1910, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching published the Flexner Report which rightly criticized many aspects of medical education in various institutions (natural and conventional), it mostly was seen as an attack on low-quality natural medicine education. It caused many programs to shut down and furthered the monopoly on medicine by medical doctors.
Naturopathic medicine never completely ceased to exist--there were always a few states in which licensing laws existed, though at one point there were no schools. One of the most visible steps towards the profession's modern renewal was the opening in 1956 of National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon. This was the first of the modern naturopathic medical schools offering four-year, science-based naturopathic medical training.
The second practice is traditional naturopathy. It recognizes that conventional medicine has value for individuals who are injured, suffering from trauma, suffering from congenital or genetic disorders, and otherwise need a highly-trained individual who can intercede to help them survive and recover. The traditional naturopath practices in a complementary fashion by applying natural means to improve the patient's health. Through application of good dietary and lifestyle practices, combined with the addition of modalities such as herbalism, bodywork, spiritual and mental exercises, this type of naturopath enables an individual to take ownership and better control of his or her own health and well-being. Naturopaths consider these practices as being complementary rather than alternative. Traditional naturopaths are trained to work with individuals who can, by application of these techniques, either enhance or regain their good health. Traditional naturopaths do not diagnose and they do not treat diseases. For these, they rely on medical doctors.
Traditional naturopaths believe there is a crucial relationship between the body, mind, and spirit and by using methods and practices that they believe have been successfully applied for centuries and in many societies, traditional naturopaths attempt to empower individuals to regain ability to live in the best possible state of health. Traditional naturopaths and medical doctors can work with the same individual cooperatively in order to help the patient recover.
