What’s the difference between naturopathy and homeopathy? Homeopathy is a system of preparing and selecting medicines based on the work of a German physician named Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843). Medicines are selected which in large doses will provide symptoms similar to the disease, but instead are prepared in minute quantities.

Homeopathy fits the philosophical tenets of Naturopathic Medicine. The medicines work by stimulating what the homeopaths call the vital force or in naturopathic terms the vis medicatrix naturae, the healing power of nature. Homeopathic remedies, because they are so dilute, are a relatively safe method of treatment, again fitting the naturopathic tenet of Primo non nocere, First off, don’t hurt (commonly translated as do no harm).

Naturopathic Medicineis a licensed medical profession which for philosophical reasons uses various natural therapies, one of which may be homeopathy. Naturopathic medicine has its roots in the European health movement called Nature Cure of the late 1700’s.

Emphasizing simple cures from nature: sunlight, water, food, and simple living, Nature Cure was brought to the United States at the end of the 1800’s by a young German practitioner named Benedict Lust. Once in this country, Lust trained as an osteopath, herbalist and homeopath and then opened his own school of medicine. Formalized into a full training program of eclectic studies, nature cure became naturopathy.

The profession evolved through the 1900’s incorporating modern medical diagnostic techniques and practices if they fit into naturopathy’s original philosophical tenets. This blend of traditional nature cure and modern science is what we now call naturopathic medicine.

In California, a differentiation needs to be made between Naturopathy and Naturopathic Medicine. The later, practiced in our clinic, is a licensed medical profession. Practitioners are graduates from one of the 5 medical schools in North America that teach Naturopathic Medicine, while the term Naturopath is open to the general public and ANYBODY, independently of degree of training or lack of, can be called a naturopath. If your question has gone unanswered, please contact us.