The Body As Its Own Physician

Although naturopathy became popular early in the 20th century and enjoyed a resurgence of interest in the '70's and 80's after a lull of a few decades, its true origins go back thousands of years. It only became known as an "alternative" form of healing when traditional medical practices as we know them - whose way was paved by the pharmaceutical industry and the American Medical Association - became firmly established in our culture.

The heart of naturopathic philosophy and practice has always revolved around the idea that the human body, left to its own devices, will naturally act as its own physician and correct imbalances. Symptoms of illness are generally not confronted by naturopathic methods like they are in traditional medicine, then, because they are viewed as part of the body's strategy for healing an underlying condition. For example, swelling and inflammation may be intended by the body's response system as a means to increase circulation and usher in more white blood cells to fight a viral infection. Using antihistamines to stop the swelling would thus interfere with the inner mechanisms that are trying to solve the problem.

This is not to suggest that naturopathic medicine requires that its patients simply tolerate their symptoms. Rather, it seeks to understand what the body is trying to do to combat an illness and then strives to aid those efforts in order to promote a quicker and fuller recovery. Oftentimes the solution lies not in medication but rather in changes to a patient's general lifestyle. Diet, personal habits, medical history, heredity, and factors that may cause emotional distress are all taken into account. When remedies are employed, great care is taken to make them as gentle and noninvasive as possible. Naturopathic physicians are always mindful of possible side effects, and are careful not to interfere with the body's healing process by repressing the symptoms that are a result of that process.

Naturopathy views the overall health and well-being of a person as the result of a number of factors - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental - that all work together to compose the makeup of the human being. These aspects of an individual's life should ideally exist in harmony. Illness is interpreted as a sign that this harmony has been disrupted, and the goal of treatment then becomes one of restoring balance within the whole person.

Naturopathic doctors will often take on the additional roles of teachers and life coaches for their patients. Working in such a capacity, they will help patients to understand that their state of health or ill health is the result of the ways in which they choose to live. Traditional Western medicine will often conquer one set of symptoms with antibiotics only to see a patient succumb to another perhaps more serious illness because an underlying issue was never resolved. Naturopaths take into account the bigger picture of their patients' lives so that inner imbalances can be treated and resolved at their source.


------

Cinergy Health & Life Insurance Agency is dedicated to providing quality health and life insurance plans for people in a variety of life situations. For more information on a selection of health and insurance topics, visit the Cinergy Health & Life Learning Center at http://www.cinergyhealth.com.