In conventional medicine, doctors are trained more or less to do the same thing- assess, diagnosis, and treat in the same, standard of care, way. In naturopathic medicine on the other hand, the most important thing we are taught is to understand the paradigm within which we function. It is the philosophy that unifies our profession, not the modalities. Naturopaths view the patient as a unique, complex, interrelated whole person guided by innate healing wisdom. It focuses on the restoration of health, not the absence of disease (dis-ease). Understanding HOW we approach each individual patient and WHY we choose what we do to treat is the most important.
