- Perhaps it should be obvious to anyone reading the designation following the title, but “N.D. – Naturo (natural) path over M.D. – Medical (Medicine) path should say it all! One is a doctor of naturopathy, the other a doctor of medicine.
- Naturopaths (N.D.s) use natural and healthy means to heal: N.D.s follow the path or pathology of a condition from cause to cure using the body’s own immune system to bring healing through the use of Herbs, Homeopathy, and protocols such as Bio-therapeutic Drainage, N.E.T. or E.M.D.R. treatments, and Nature Cure, hydrotherapy, botanical education, massage, acupuncture, exercise, and nutritional counseling, kinesiology, mind-body medicine, physical medicine, reflexology, and others. (1) (2) (3) (4)
- This is in comparison to an M.D. prescribing the most currently accepted drug, drug therapy, or similar regimen to address the symptom(s).
- Most Naturopaths are self-employed in private practice rather than employed by an agency, hospital/organization, or health-system entity. (5) An A.M.A. analysis showed most physicians work outside of private practice (6) and are subject to the “agency’s” by-laws, standards, and insurance carriers’ requirements. “Naturopathic physicians in clinical practice see fewer patients per day than their M.D. or D.O. counterparts and spend anywhere from one to two hours with new patients; they listen. This allows for a deep doctor-patient relationship and the ability to focus on lifestyle issues, patient education, and the root cause of illness.” (4)
- Medical doctors receive training to assess/diagnose and prescribe drugs. Naturopaths receive training to actively seek and identify the ’cause’ and address it naturally.
- The six core principles of naturopathic medicine are as follows: (4)
- The healing power of nature (vis medicatrix naturae)
- First do no harm (primum non nocere)
- Identify and treat the cause(s) (tolle causam)
- Doctor as teacher (docere)
- Treat the whole person (tolle totum)
- Prevention (preventare)
- A minimum of two with most up to four years of nutritional training for N.D.s, compared to at best, 20 hours of class time for M.D.s (7)That alone can make the difference between “healing” and not since it is our immune systems that heal us.
Perhaps it is because the A.M.A. and Western-trained doctors who gave me drugs instead of seeking a means to heal (cure) leaving me to die when they ran out of answers, as well as having healed through education and the application of natural means of healing by my Naturopath, where I would have otherwise have died of the failing liver the drugs and doctors left me with, I am slightly biased. But having learned what “sound” nutrition is and how it differs in allowing and aiding our own immune system to heal us, compared to just trying to resolve symptomatic agony, I know the difference and support that ideal from over 30 years of being doctored without healing makes compared to addressing the cause and finding true and complete healing. We may have to pay out-of-pocket to see a naturopath, though some do take insurance, one way or another, we will pay. Insurance premiums are not free for most people. But we also can pay with our health and lives, and I’d rather put my trust for the money in the hands of one who knows how to heal instead of treating my symptoms.
Only you can decide which is best for you, but I’m sticking with natural instead of medical drugs; healing over mitigating symptoms. Don’t get me wrong: Western medicine has a time and place. Nothing beats a skilled surgeon in an emergency or for surgery, but you can not find better treatment for healing and preventative care than from a naturopath.
Commentary by Douglas K. Johnson – Life, Health and Wellness Coach, Herbalist, Nutritionist, Investigative Journalist, and Author
Sources:
- Dr. Jesse Buttler, N.D.
- https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-naturopathic-medicine
- https://www.colorado.edu/ceprehealth/sites/default/files/attached-files/naturopathic_quick_facts_0.pdf
- https://www.colorado.edu/ceprehealth/sites/default/files/attached-files/naturopathic_quick_facts_0.pdf
- https://thepcc.org/2022/04/25/report-supermajority-us-physicians-are-employed-health-systems-or-corporate-entities
- https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-analysis-shows-most-physicians-work-outside-private-practice
- https://naturemed.org/what-advanced-nutrition-training-do-naturopathic-doctors-receive/
To Your Health 