Naturopathy
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[edit] Definition
Naturopathy is a syncretic New Age health movement incorporating many different techniques from Alternative Medicine.
The word "naturopathy" means, literally, "natural disease": we presume that the man who coined the term had heard the word "homeopathy" but had no knowledge of classical languages.
[edit] History
Naturopathy originally involved the pursuit of health through a healthy diet, fresh air, sunlight, and cold baths.
- Healing occurs naturally in the human body, if it is given what it truly needs -- proper diet, pure water, fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and rest. [1]
These ideas were promoted by a German priest, Father Sebastian Kneipp, who believed that he had cured himself of tuberculosis by bathing in the Danube. In 1895 one of Kneipp's disciples and former patients, Bernard Lust, brought "Kneippism" to America, purchased the brand name "naturopathy" from John Scale, and began the process of radical eclecticism which made naturopathic medicine into the pot pourri of New Age quackery that it is today. [2]
There are still traditional naturopaths, or, as they call themselves "True Naturopaths", who regard themselves as keepers of the true flame of Father Kneipp, and who detest the practitioners of "Naturopathic medicine". [3]
[edit] Discussion
The upshot of this history is that today "naturopath" has come to mean "someone who first tells you that your body can heal itself, and then tries to sell you medicine". Amongst the "natural" methods employed for this purpose are acupuncture, aromatherapy, chiropractic, colonic irrigation, herbal medicine, homeopathy, iridology and reflexology, to be chosen between at the discretion or whim of the practitioner. [4] [5] The naturopathic literature does not seem to explain what is natural about sticking the patient full of needles and then pushing a hosepipe up his bottom. Nor can we. Fortunately, most people's bodies have the "wisdom" to get along just fine without this sort of delicate nurturing.
Naturopathy does not seem to have any distinctive and exclusive method of treatment or diagnosis all of its own; it is merely a large collection of New Age quackery: nor is there any coherent theory telling the practitioner when to use which methods, and how to tell a patient in urgent need of homeopathy from one who is perishing for want of acupuncture. For this reason, there is really nothing more to say about naturopathy that is not already dealt with in the individual articles on acupuncture, colonic irrigation, homeopathy, et cetera.
[edit] Links
- Naturopathy: Report of the Australian Board of Inquiry
- Naturopathy: A Critical Analysis
- A Close Look At Naturopathy
