Naturopathy

Naturopathy
Alternative medicine
Old homeopathic remedy, Hepar sulph.
A homeopathic preparation of Hepar sulph – homeopathy can be offered as part of naturopathic treatment.[1]
ClaimsDiseases are cured through the body's "natural healing" ability which is primarily aided by practices labelled as "natural" (and not primarily by pharmaceutical drugs, surgery, and other treatments within evidence-based medicine, not seen as "natural"), comprising widely ranging "nature cures" and any form of alternative medicine that may be labelled as "natural"
Related fieldsAlternative medicine
Original proponentsBenedict Lust; Sebastian Kneipp
MeSHD009324
See alsoHumorism, heroic medicine, vitalism
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Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine.[1] A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult to generalize, these treatments range from the pseudoscientific and thoroughly discredited, like homeopathy, to the widely accepted, like certain forms of psychotherapy.[2][3][4] The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence.[5][6][7] The ethics of naturopathy have been called into question by medical professionals and its practice has been characterized as quackery.[8][9][10][11][12]

Naturopathic practitioners commonly encourage alternative treatments that are rejected by conventional medicine, including resistance to surgery or vaccines for some patients.[13][14][15][16] The diagnoses made by naturopaths often have no basis in science and are often not accepted by mainstream medicine.[8][17]

Naturopaths frequently campaign for legal recognition in the United States. Naturopathy is prohibited in three U.S. states (Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee) and tightly regulated in many others. Some states, however, allow naturopaths to perform minor surgery or even prescribe drugs. While some schools exist for naturopaths, and some jurisdictions allow such practitioners to call themselves doctors, the lack of accreditation, scientific medical training, and quantifiable positive results means they lack the competency of true medical doctors.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Gale_Frey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Baran GR, Kiani MF, Samuel SP (2014). "Science, Pseudoscience, and Not Science: How do They Differ?". Healthcare and Biomedical Technology in the 21st Century. pp. 19–57. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-8541-4_2. ISBN 978-1-4614-8540-7. within the traditional medical community it is considered to be quackery
  3. ^ Paul S. Boyer (2001). The Oxford companion to United States history. Oxford University Press. p. 630. ISBN 978-0-19-508209-8. Retrieved January 15, 2013. After 1847, when regular doctors organized the American Medical Association (AMA), that body led the war on "quackery", especially targeting dissenting medical groups such as homeopaths, who prescribed infinitesimally small doses of medicine. Ironically, even as the AMA attacked all homeopathy as quackery, educated homeopathic physicians were expelling untrained quacks from their ranks.
  4. ^ Psychotherapy can be evidence based, or pseudoscientific however, see:
    • Lilienfeld SO (December 2015). "Introduction to special section on pseudoscience in psychiatry". The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 60 (12): 531–533. doi:10.1177/070674371506001202. PMC 4679160. PMID 26720820. Although the boundaries separating pseudoscience from science are fuzzy, pseudosciences are characterized by several warning signs – fallible but useful indicators that distinguish them from most scientific disciplines. ... In contrast to most accepted medical interventions, which are prescribed for a circumscribed number of conditions, many pseudoscientific techniques lack boundary conditions of application. For example, some proponents of Thought Field Therapy, an intervention that purports to correct imbalances in unobservable energy fields, using specified bodily tapping algorithms, maintain that it can be used to treat virtually any psychological condition, and that it is helpful not only for adults but also for children, dogs, and horses.
    • Lee CM, Hunsley J (December 2015). "Evidence-based practice: separating science from pseudoscience". The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 60 (12): 534–540. doi:10.1177/070674371506001203. PMC 4679161. PMID 26720821. TFT, a treatment applied to mood, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders, is a prime example of practice founded on pseudoscience. TFT is based on the premise that bodily energy imbalances cause negative emotions. Treatment is purported to rectify imbalances by tapping on acupuncture meridians. Virtually no peer-reviewed research supports this treatment rationale. With only methodologically weak reports available in the literature, the so-called science cited to support TFT is primarily anecdotal and does not rule out placebo effects. Despite these criticisms, the TFT website continues to advance unsupported claims about TFT's ability to cure almost any emotional problem.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jagtenberg2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Tabish SA (2008). "Complementary and Alternative Healthcare: Is it Evidence-based?". International Journal of Health Sciences. 2 (1): v–ix. PMC 3068720. PMID 21475465.
  7. ^ Goldenberg JZ, Burlingham BS, Guiltinan J, Oberg EB (August 2017). "Shifting attitudes towards research and evidence-based medicine within the naturopathic medical community". Advances in Integrative Medicine. 4 (2): 49–55. doi:10.1016/j.aimed.2017.08.003.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference atwood2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Gorski DH (October 2014). "Integrative oncology: really the best of both worlds?". Nature Reviews. Cancer. 14 (10): 692–700. doi:10.1038/nrc3822. PMID 25230880. S2CID 33539406.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference tot was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Russell J, ed. (2009). American Cancer Society complete guide to complementary & alternative cancer therapies. American Cancer Society. pp. 116–119. ISBN 978-1-60443-054-7. OCLC 671655748.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference atwood2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Wilson K, Busse JW, Gilchrist A, Vohra S, Boon H, Mills E (March 2005). "Characteristics of pediatric and adolescent patients attending a naturopathic college clinic in Canada". Pediatrics. 115 (3): e338-43. doi:10.1542/peds.2004-1901. PMID 15741360.
  14. ^ Busse JW, Wilson K, Campbell JB (November 2008). "Attitudes towards vaccination among chiropractic and naturopathic students". Vaccine. 26 (49): 6237–6243. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2008.07.020. PMID 18674581.
  15. ^ Wilson K, Mills E, Boon H, Tomlinson G, Ritvo P (January 2004). "A survey of attitudes towards paediatric vaccinations amongst Canadian naturopathic students". Vaccine. 22 (3–4): 329–334. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2003.08.014. PMID 14670313.
  16. ^ Engler BD, Mielczarek EV (2014). "Selling Pseudoscience: A Rent in the Fabric of American Medicine". Skeptical Inquirer. 38 (3).
  17. ^ "Family Physicians versus Naturopaths" (PDF). aafp.org. American Academy of Family Physicians. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 16, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.