Naturopathic Medicine

• The healing power of nature. vis medicatrix naturae
  The body has the inherent ability to establish, maintain, and restore health. The physician's role is to facilitate and augment this process, to act to identify and remove obstacles to health and recovery, and to support the creation of a healthy internal and external environment.
• Identify and treat the cause. tolle causam
  Illness does not occur without cause. Underlying causes of disease must be discovered and removed or treated before a person can recover completely from illness. Symptoms are expressions of the body's attempt to heal, but are not the cause of disease. Symptoms, therefore, should not be suppressed by treatment. Causes may occur on many levels including physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
• First do no harm. primum no nocere
  The process of healing includes the generation of symptoms which are, in fact, an expression of the body attempting to heal itself. Therapeutic actions should be complimentary to and synergistic with this healing process. Therefore, methods designed to suppress symptoms without removing underlying causes are considered harmful and are avoided or minimized.
• Treat the whole person. The multifactorial nature of health and disease
  Health and disease are conditions of the whole organism, a whole involving a complex interaction of physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social, and other factors. The harmonious functioning of all aspects of the individual is essential to recovery from and prevention of disease, and requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment.
• The physician as teacher. docere
  It is vital that knowledge of the naturally occurring process be conveyed to the individual suffering as well the knowledge of what the body needs in order to achieve its normal state of health.
• Prevention. Prevention is the best "cure"
  The ultimate goal of any health care system should be prevention. This is accomplished through education and promotion of life-habits that create good health. The physician assesses risk factors and hereditary susceptibility to disease and makes appropriate interventions to avoid further harm and risk to the patient. The emphasis is on building health rather than on fighting disease.

The current scope of naturopathic practice includes, but is not limited to: Clinical Nutrition, Botanical Medicine, Homeopathic Medicine, Physical Medicine, Oriental Medicine, Naturopathic Obstetrics, Psychological Medicine, & Minor Surgery.

Adapted from Naturopathic Medicine Copyright © 1995-2005, Naturopathic Medicine Network. All rights reserved.