The 6 Principles of Naturopathic Medicine

Naturopathic medicine is health care that blends modern research based medicine with traditional and natural forms of medicine. Naturopathic doctors (ND) highlight the importance of preventative medicine and seek to identify and treat the root cause of illness. There are 6 principles of naturopathic medicine.

First, Do No Harm (Primum non nocere) – Choosing the right therapies for each individual and using the minimum dose required in order to treat the root cause without causing an unwanted or unnecessary side effects.

The Healing Power of Nature (Vis medicatrix naturae) – The body has an inherent ability to heal. Restoring and supporting this ability is necessary to heal the mind, body, and spirit, and prevent any future disease.

Identify and Treat the Causes (Tolle causam) – The goal in naturopathic medicine is to treat the underlying cause rather than managing or suppressing symptoms. Symptoms are a message from the body letting us know something is out of balance. Lifestyle, environmental toxins, and life events can all be at the root of the problem.

Doctor as Teacher (Docere) – Education is a part of healing. Learning what is happening in the body and what causes disease allows one to learn what health means, how they can attain it, and how to stay healthy.

Treat the Whole Person (Tolle totum) – Treating disease involves looking at all aspects of an individual to find imbalances. This includes addressing physical symptoms along with mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental expressions of a person. NDs look at the whole person because disease affects the whole person and not just one body system.

Prevention (Praevenic) – NDs focus on prevention by emphasizing healthy daily habits and by assessing for risk factors to see if preventative interventions are appropriate. Health is not just the absence of disease but rather being able to function optimally and improve quality of life.