The Doctor is...out. Confessions of a (former) Naturopathic Doctor

[progressoid]

Also posted in theHealth forum.

I have a hard time pinpointing exactly when I stopped believing in naturopathic medicine. It was a slow process. Doubt crept in insidiously when I first encountered minor issues with the profession. Initially, I saw only small medical risks from minor clinical transgressions. But, as is the case with all sins, I began to witness serious and dangerous naturopathic practices. Even though I had spent 7 years of study and practice and a quarter of a million dollars in student loans, I knew I needed to drop my faith.

I intentionally use the word “belief” to describe my experiences with naturopathic medicine. Naturopathic medicine is a philosophy, a worldview, and even a lifestyle. It is not a real and distinct medical system. Not everyone has heard of naturopathic medicine, but its principals can be found in any alternative medicine doctrine. In fact, it’s as if naturopathic medicine includes any and all tropes counter to science and borrows loosely from medicine when convenient.

For naturopaths, it does not matter if science refutes the traditional ways of healing. Because for naturopathic believers, what matters is not about what science says, but about beliefs in an alternative, magical healing force. Naturopathic medical beliefs include pseudoscientific ideas like vaccines cause more harm than good, any disease can be successfully treated with homeopathy, alternative cancer therapies are safe and effective, and nutrition can cure mental illness. These beliefs are dangerous and their promotion is unethical.

~~~http://www.naturopathicdiaries.com/ye-little-faith/

Lots more at Naturopathic Diaries

[rjsquirrel]

1. Good

"Naturopathic" is a neologism used to add veneer to pseudoscientific bullshit. There is no such thing as "naturopathic" medicine, nor is there such a thing as "allopathic" medicine, the term of derision invented by the hucksters who sell anti-science woo. Naturopathy is a scam, pure and simple. If it wasn't, it would just be "medicine."

There is no such thing as "alternative" medicine. There is scientific medicine, and there is bullshit pretending to be medicine.

Most people in the woo industry know this, but they have a financial interest in covering it up. Amusingly, people defend the woo peddler by pointing to the for-profit character of "mainstream" ("allopathic," "traditional," "scientific&quot medicine.

Well, that's crap as a reason. I have never met anyone involved in the provision of pseudoscientific fake medicine who wasn't in it for the money, and seeking a less regulated environment with more gullible consumers and less scientific oversight by calling what they do "alternative" medicine. The "nutritional supplement" business is, on a per capita and per consumer basis, FAR more profitable than "Big Pharma" ever was, for example. And yet they don't have to prove their elixirs and magic pills work, can claim anything they like as long as they put a disclaimer in fine print ("This product is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease" -- look for it!). So unlike Merck or Lilly, these guys do no research, have no overhead, and are not regulated. Instead they have a license to print money selling placebos at best, dangerous substances at worst.

Glad to see some in the business have the capacity for conscience.

[HuckleB]

2. I posted her recent piece on the California quack, etc... in GD.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027596334