Naturopathy

Naturopathic medicine blends many approaches, including botanical medicine, clinical nutrition, homeopathy, acupuncture, traditional Oriental medicine, hydrotherapy, and naturopathic manipulative therapy. Naturopathic doctors (NDs) also take courses in basic medical sciences like anatomy, cell biology, and physiology.

When naturopathy began as a formal health care system in the United States at the turn of the century, there were more than 20 naturopathic or "eclectic" schools. Naturopathic practitioners emphasize prevention and treatment of disease through a healthy lifestyle and control of risk factors, treatment of the whole person, and use of the body's natural healing abilities. They stress nutrition and the therapeutic use of foods to promote health, and to identify and treat the causes of chronic and degenerative disease.

The two accredited U.S. naturopathic medical schools (the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and Bastyr University of Natural Sciences in Seattle, Washington) together graduate about 50 naturopathic doctors a year. Two additional colleges are candidates for accreditation: the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, Ontario. A new program at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut admitted its first students in September 1997. It has been granted a license to operate by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education, and at the end of one year will be eligible to apply as a candidate for accreditation. The Council on Naturopathic Medical Education, based in Eugene, Oregon, is the accrediting agency for naturopathic programs in the United States and Canada.

More than 1,000 naturopathic doctors are licensed in the United States. Eleven states issue these licenses through special boards (Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington). In these states, only licensed persons may use the designation "ND" after their name. Several other states allow the practice of naturopathic medicine. In states that do not have licensure laws, graduates of non-accredited schools, like those offering instruction through correspondence courses, may use the designation ND. They may give seminars, and advise people on lifestyle or nutrition, but they are not permitted to diagnose illness or to prescribe remedies. In New Hampshire, graduates of correspondence schools who were already practicing at the time the licensure law was enacted were allowed to continue doing so under a restricted license. In Tennessee and South Carolina, it is illegal to practice naturopathic medicine.