Naturopathy
form of alternative medicine, drugless system of therapy
Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. These treatments range from the pseudoscientific and thoroughly discredited, such as homeopathy, to the widely accepted, such as certain forms of psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence. The ethics of naturopathy have been called into question by medical professionals and its practice has been characterized as quackery.
Naturopathic practitioners commonly encourage alternative treatments that are rejected by conventional medicine, including resistance to surgery or vaccines for some patients. The diagnoses made by naturopaths often have no basis in science and are often not accepted by mainstream medicine.
Naturopaths frequently campaign for legal recognition in the United States. Naturopathy is prohibited in three U.S. states (Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee) and tightly regulated in many others. Some states, however, allow naturopaths to perform minor surgery or even prescribe drugs.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Naturopathy” as form of alternative medicine, drugless system of therapy. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as form of alternative medicine, drugless system of therapy. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q213403. The Library of Congress control number is sh85090300. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Naturopathy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.