Spring Break
Naturopathy Is A Viable Alternative
Josh Blodgett
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Commentary
In every human culture, there are medical beliefs that have been established in order to provide the basis for explaining and responding to illness. Throughout recorded history, illness has been attributed to sorcery, demonic possession and even the will of gods. In the past 200 years, scientific advances in medicine have served to alter or replace most outmoded health practices. However, not all advances have proven to be for the betterment of humankind.
The approach of conventional, or allopathic, medicine is to address symptoms. Symptoms are in turn treated with medications that have the potential for adverse side effects. In extreme cases, conventional medicine has even used invasive surgery where natural approaches could have avoided patients going under the knife. Furthermore, conventional medicine perceives patients as masses of cells and chemical reactions. Physicians have been taught to avoid becoming emotionally involved with their patients for doing so would detract from their ability to diagnose and treat properly. On the other hand, alternative or naturopathic medicine, which acknowledges patients as a combination of body, mind, and spirit, is founded in the belief that living things have an innate ability to heal themselves. To cure an illness physicians must target the cause rather than the symptoms.
Naturopathic medicine is an integrated system of primary health care consisting of the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human disorders through the use of natural methods and resources including, but not limited to, herbal remedies or ancient practices such as acupuncture. Patients are treated holistically. This means taking into consideration the individual's biochemistry, biomechanics and emotional predispositions - an approach which empowers the individual to be accountable for the level of health they experience. Our body promotes self-cleansing and self-repair. By focusing on balancing the immune, hormonal, nervous and detoxification systems of the body, restored health can be achieved. The body's ability to heal itself can be better understood if one recognizes that homeostasis is necessary for any system to experience optimum health.
The approach of conventional, or allopathic, medicine is to address symptoms. Symptoms are in turn treated with medications that have the potential for adverse side effects. In extreme cases, conventional medicine has even used invasive surgery where natural approaches could have avoided patients going under the knife. Furthermore, conventional medicine perceives patients as masses of cells and chemical reactions. Physicians have been taught to avoid becoming emotionally involved with their patients for doing so would detract from their ability to diagnose and treat properly. On the other hand, alternative or naturopathic medicine, which acknowledges patients as a combination of body, mind, and spirit, is founded in the belief that living things have an innate ability to heal themselves. To cure an illness physicians must target the cause rather than the symptoms.
Naturopathic medicine is an integrated system of primary health care consisting of the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human disorders through the use of natural methods and resources including, but not limited to, herbal remedies or ancient practices such as acupuncture. Patients are treated holistically. This means taking into consideration the individual's biochemistry, biomechanics and emotional predispositions - an approach which empowers the individual to be accountable for the level of health they experience. Our body promotes self-cleansing and self-repair. By focusing on balancing the immune, hormonal, nervous and detoxification systems of the body, restored health can be achieved. The body's ability to heal itself can be better understood if one recognizes that homeostasis is necessary for any system to experience optimum health.
Be the first to comment on this story