North American naturopathic medicine in the 21st century: Time for a seventh guiding principle – Scientia Critica

EXPLORE Volume 14, Issue 5, September 2018, Pages 367-372 EXPLORE Research Letter Author links open overlay panelAlan C.Logan1Joshua Z.Goldenberg2JaneGuiltinan3DugaldSeely4David L.Katz5 1 inVIVO Planetary Health, Research Group of the World Universities Network, 6010 Park Ave, Suite #4081, West New York, NJ 07093, USA 2 Bastyr University Research Institute, School of Naturopathic Medicine, 14500 Juanita Drive N.E., Kenmore, WA 98028, USA 3 Bastyr University, 14500 Juanita Drive N.E., Kenmore, WA 98028, USA 4 Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre, 29 Bayswater Ave, Ottawa, ON K1Y 2E5, Canada 5 Yale University, Prevention Research Center, Griffin Hospital, 130 Division St, Derby, CT 06418, USA Received 11 January 2018, Revised 9 March 2018, Accepted 28 March 2018, Available online 2 August 2018. crossmark-logo Show less https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2018.03.009Get rights and content Highlights • The regulation of naturopathic medicine is expanding in North America. • The fundamental principles are, in theory, aligned with public health and preventive medicine. • Naturopathic medicine has evolved from origins which have not prioritized critical analysis. • It is proposed that naturopathic medicine include Scientia Critica – critical appraisal and critical consciousness – into its core principles. Abstract The World Health Organization strategy for global health includes a culturally-sensitive blending of western biomedicine with traditional forms of healing; in practical terms this approach is often referred to as integrative medicine. One distinct element within the systems of North American integrative healthcare is naturopathic medicine; while the basic premise of its fundamental approach to care – supporting healthy lifestyle behaviors – is as old as medicine itself, the early history of organized naturopathy in North America was heavy in theory and light on critical analysis. Dozens of questionable modalities and protocols have been housed under the rubric of naturopathy. It is our contention that the progression of professional naturopathic medicine in the 21st century – with goals of personal, public and planetary health – requires the active pursuit of critical analysis. We examine the primary guiding principles which drive the training and practice of North American naturopathic medicine; while these principles are laudable in the age of patient-centered care, we argue that there are shortcomings by absentia. We propose a seventh principle – Scientia Critica; that is, the ability to critically analyze accumulated knowledge – including scientific facts, knowledge about the self (critical consciousness) and values of the patient.