As a Naturopath I am not a fan of ‘labels’ per se. Personally, I do not feel that a label for your condition or disease is going to particularly assist you in alleviating or treating your symptoms.
However, this is where the Naturopathic health care model is slightly different to conventional health care. (I would like to categorically state here that I am not “anti” conventional health care and will always work with my client’s health team where needed and always in the best interest of my client.)
Naturopathic healthcare is a wonderful blend of centuries old herbal and traditional healing medicine, carefully blended with the latest evidence-based research and scientific innovation.
Naturopathy has an emphasis on prevention, treatment and promotion of optimal health whilst encouraging the innate self-healing process of the body. Naturopathic practice is firmly based upon six principles and will encompass holistic nutritional and herbal medicine, lifestyle and dietary modifications along with energetic modalities such as flower essences and homeopathy.
As a Naturopath, I treat the “whole person” and not the disease or the diagnosis.
“As a Naturopath, I treat the “whole person” and not the disease or the diagnosis.”
Your first consultation with me will be roughly ninety minutes in length and during that time we will cover a detailed timeline of your life, including any pertinent familial history, trips overseas, previous surgeries, medications and a snap shot of your lifestyle. Every aspect of you will be explored; mental, emotional, physical, genetic, environmental, social and spiritual.
This thorough, comprehensive exploration will assist in one of our principles; Tolle Causam ~ identify and treat the causes. Rather than concentrating on the label or disease we will endeavour to identify and then treat the underlying cause of your illness and in doing so will always begin with minimal interventions where possible and if deemed necessary we will proceed to higher interventions.
By identifying any disturbing factors that may be contributing to your ill health, I can work with you in initiating a more healthful regime.
“For instance, research shows that major depressive disorder is linked to inflammation, oxidative stress and decreased mitochondria energy production.”
Therefore, by addressing the bodies inflammatory markers and instigating botanical and nutritional anti-inflammatories both in the diet and via supplementation or herbal medicine, whilst simultaneously addressing the lifestyle factors that could be contributing to increased inflammation, we can begin to work on inhibiting this inflammatory cascade and assist the body to return to homeostasis.
“Research shows that by improving a poor-quality diet that included high levels of processed, sugary products and implementing a diet high in PUFA’s (polyunsaturated fatty acids) zinc, selenium and magnesium acts therapeutically for depressive disorders.”
So, you see, even if you have a label of having a major depressive disorder, (for instance) then a Naturopath would tailor the treatment to YOU; by looking at your diet, your lifestyle and yes, any medications that you are on and work alongside any concurrent treatment be it allopathic or otherwise.
Samantha is a naturopath and founder of Your Holistic Voyage.
References
Moylan, S., Maes, M., Wray, N. R., & Berk, M. (2013). The neuroprogressive nature of major depressive disorder: Pathways to disease evolution and resistance, and therapeutic implications. Molecular Psychiatry, 18(5), 595–606. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2012.33
Myers, S. P., & Vigar, V. (2019). The State of the Evidence for Whole-System, Multi-Modality Naturopathic Medicine: A Systematic Scoping Review. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 25(2), 141–168. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2018.0340
