Naturopathic medicine is a distinct primary health care profession, emphasizing prevention, treatment, and optimal health through the use of therapeutic methods and substances that encourage individuals’ inherent self-healing process.
Naturopathic theory dictates that the human body has the ability to heal itself (vitalism) if it is supplied with the correct environment and the basic ingredients that can build new healthy cells. This is based on the age old doctrine of “vis medicatrix naturae” – only nature can heal from Hippocractic times.
Naturopathic medicine is based on treating the cause of an illness and aims to treat the body as a whole. The dis-ease or illness or pain the patient presents with may have a singular cause but often has many different causes.