Paths to Healing: Naturopathy
By Anna Moore · May 16, 2024
Our newsletter team examines six different approaches to healing
True to its name, this age-old method uses uses a natural approach to addressing underlying causes of illness
Definition
Naturopathy is a form of medicine that treats the root of a problem naturally.
Number of practitioners
There are about 5,000 known traditional naturopathic doctors (NDs) in the U.S., according to the American Naturopathic Medical Association. There are approximately 6,000 licensed naturopathic physicians, according to the Institute for Natural Medicine.
History
First coined in 1895, the etymology of naturopathy can mean “the birth of suffering” but was originally interpreted to mean “natural healing,” said Dr. Jocelin Whitaker, a traditional naturopathic doctor in Ohio and Samaritan Ministries member.
“They started schools with hydrotherapy—which is water therapy—and herbal medicine and homeopathy,” she said. “It grew from there. The first school in the U.S. opened in 1901."
Early naturopaths used traditional herbal and diet treatments. As the practice has become modernized over the past 15 to 20 years, Dr. Whitaker said there is a stronger split between traditional naturopaths and licensed naturopathic physicians.
“There have really always been naturopaths,” she said. “There have always been herbalists. I mean, you look back in the Bible times and there were herbalists. We didn’t have the term ‘naturopathy,’ but it dates all the way back to then and that’s what I love about it, is it’s really trying to understand what God put in the plants and how we can use them.”
Approach to healing
Naturopaths say that to heal and balance out the body so it functions at its best, one must get to the root of any issues and imbalances. Naturopathy aims to treat the root of a problem and help the individual adjust their diet and lifestyle to heal and live a healthy life. The practice focuses on the whole person’s health rather than treatment of the symptoms of one problem.
“For me, naturopathy is looking at the person as who God made them to be, and starting from that position that God made us to be perfect human beings made in His likeness,” Dr. Whitaker said. “So, when sin came into the world, disease came into the world, and every disease is an imbalance in the body.”
Imbalances can be anything from a lack of digestive enzymes to a lack of good gut flora, from too many parasites to a deficiency in hormones. Imbalance in one area of the body affects multiple other areas, Dr. Whitaker said.
“We’re trying to look beyond the symptoms and go after the roots to the underlying cause,” she said. “Our viewpoint is, let’s figure out what is causing these imbalances in the body.”
Naturopaths follow six basic principles:
- The healing power of nature (trusting in the body’s inherent ability given by God to heal itself).
- Identifying and treating the causes (look beyond the symptoms to the underlying cause).
- Doing no harm (utilize the most natural, least invasive, and least toxic therapies).
- Education (educate patients in the steps to achieve and maintain health).
- Treating the whole person (viewing the body as an integrated whole in all its physical and spiritual dimensions).
- Prevention (focus on overall health, wellness, and disease prevention).
Whitaker used a dandelion root digger as an example of what naturopathic doctors do.
“You can go out and spray your yard to get rid of all the dandelions, or you can mow them, or you can pluck them,” she said. “They will keep growing back because you haven’t gotten rid of the roots. Western medicine, in most cases, has taken a symptomatic approach versus a naturopathic one, which is really wanting to get to the root.”
Patients choose to see naturopaths because of the individualized approach to care they receive and the more naturally minded treatments.
Dr. Whitaker said her job is a lot like solving mysteries because each person’s situation and body are so different from others and many times there are different health concerns with the same rooted issue or issues.
“Typically, it’s tied back to either some kind of physical exposure or some type of emotional pain that has been the trigger point,” she said. “The interesting thing is you can have two people in the same exact situation, and they will manifest completely different. They have been in the same environment, same emotional trauma, but each person has manifested in different ways depending on what their bodies have been through and what their weaknesses are.”
She describes the human body as a spider web where if you try to pull one thread, it connects with the whole web.
“It’s just so intimately tied into each of the different organs and into our emotions and into the spiritual—everything. So, you can’t separate it and it doesn’t look the same for each person,” she said.
A naturopathic doctor’s goal is not to continue seeing their patient over the long-term, but to help them make appropriate adjustments to their lifestyle and health so that they get better.
“I try to see them every three months because I’m not just wanting to see them and see where they’re at physically, but I’m also wanting them to have an accountability point that they’re actually making these changes,” she said.
NDs also accept children and infants as patients to help ensure they have healthy development.
Common ailments treated
The most common ailments treated through naturopathy include allergies, digestive issues, chronic pain, infertility, depression, anxiety, autoimmunity, thyroid issues, headaches, hormonal imbalances, adrenal fatigue, asthma, fibromyalgia, skin concerns, stress, and weight management.
Dr. Whitaker said she also sees a lot of toxic mold syndrome and Lyme disease patients.
“You start to see certain specialties because you’ve researched it to pieces,” she said.
Certification and licensing
Besides earning related bachelor's and master's degrees, a person must complete doctoral studies to be considered a naturopathic doctor. Many schools also require clinical hours.
“I completed 500 clinical hours under an experienced naturopath, so all of our training is focused on the natural,” Dr. Whitaker said. “We had to do anatomy, physiology, biology, and chemistry. I had a course on pharmacology because there are certain herbs that interfere with pharmaceutical medications, so they want you to at least have an understanding of that.”
NDs also receive extensive training in nutrition, botanical medicine, and healing methods.
Naturopathic doctors in the nontraditional sense are typically known as naturopathic physicians, and unlike traditional naturopaths, they must have a license to practice in their state.
“They spend about 2½ years doing additional medical school and 1½ years of doing natural training, but it’s from a traditional medical school’s interpretation of ‘natural,’ which can get watered down,” Dr. Whitaker said. “They are only licensable in 26 of 50 states, so it really depends on which state you are in.”
Naturopathic physicians report to a medical board and must meet certain criteria. States where licensing is required means traditional NDs who do not have the licensing cannot use that title, whether they have earned it or not.
Read about other paths to healing:
The information provided in this article is for educational purposes and is not meant as medical advice. The information is not meant to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health professional.