Naturopathy

Naturopathy is a system of health care, grounded in long-standing traditional philosophies and principles, in which practitioners use a range of natural therapies with their patients. The Victorian Government's Better Health Channel describes it as a holistic approach to wellness built on a healthy diet, clean fresh water, sunlight, exercise and stress management.

Description

Key ideas: holism and vitalism

Two ideas sit at the heart of naturopathy. Holism means looking at the whole person, and at the internal and external (environmental, social and cultural) factors that affect their health, rather than at one condition on its own. Vitalism is the belief that every living thing has an innate "vital force"; for this reason naturopathic treatment aims to support the body's own ability to heal rather than to suppress symptoms.

Principles

Naturopaths describe a set of traditional principles: first do no harm; support the healing power of nature; treat the cause and not just the symptoms; treat the whole person; act as a teacher to the patient; and promote prevention, health and wellbeing. The World Naturopathic Federation also lists several theories that guide practice, such as the idea that treatments work best when applied in a particular order. In Better Health's words, naturopathy aims to teach people to care for their own and their family's health and to support the body's capacity to heal.

A consultation

Naturopaths usually see patients in private practice. A first consultation usually lasts 60 to 120 minutes, and follow-up visits about 30 to 60 minutes. The naturopath takes a detailed case history and may carry out examinations such as pulse and tongue diagnosis, iridology and blood pressure, and may refer the patient for laboratory tests. From this they reach a naturopathic diagnosis and draw up a treatment plan. Better Health says a naturopath will ask about diet, lifestyle, family background, environment and past illnesses.

Treatments

In a survey of Australian naturopaths, the treatments most often reported were lifestyle changes (98% of practitioners), dietary changes (90%), herbal medicine (90%), meditation (88%), exercise prescription (83%), yoga (75%), nutritional supplements (65%) and homeopathy (36%). Some naturopaths also use manual therapies such as massage. Better Health adds hydrotherapy, such as hot and cold compresses; physical therapies such as massage, Bowen therapy and acupressure; and counselling techniques such as stress management. Because naturopathy draws on so many methods, the pages on Western herbal medicine and Homeopathy are useful companions to this one.

Scope

What it includes

• A detailed case history and naturopathic assessment
• Diet and lifestyle advice
• Prescribing herbal medicines and nutritional supplements
• Other therapies such as meditation, yoga, exercise, hydrotherapy, massage and counselling techniques

What it is not

• Naturopathy is not a treatment for a specific illness or disease. It is a complementary therapy, meaning one that may be used alongside other medical and therapeutic treatment.

What the evidence reviews found

The evidence for naturopathy as a whole system is limited. A review for the Australian Government in 2015 found no reliable evidence that it was effective for any clinical condition.

A 2023 evaluation for the Natural Therapies Review included 16 studies covering 14 populations. It found low-certainty evidence that naturopathy, delivered as a lifestyle program with naturopathic consultations and herbal medicines, improved quality of life and menstrual regularity in people with polycystic ovary syndrome, in one Australian study of 122 participants. It found low-certainty evidence of little or no effect on cognitive impairment in people with multiple sclerosis, and on cardiovascular risk factors in people at risk of heart disease. For most conditions and outcomes the effects were very uncertain or unknown.

A companion overview looked at selected nutritional supplements prescribed in naturopathic practice. It found moderate- to low-certainty evidence that some supplements probably or may improve some outcomes for some conditions, while others probably or may make little or no difference. For most of the supplement and condition pairs it examined, the evidence was of very low certainty. A third review, of Western herbal medicines, was also carried out.

None of these reviews was meant to guide an individual's decision about whether to use naturopathy.

Traditions and lineage

According to the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), naturopathy grew out of a blend of traditional practices and health care approaches that were popular in Europe in the nineteenth century.

Training and titles differ between countries, which matters when reading material written overseas. In North America, NCCIH distinguishes two groups. Licensed naturopathic physicians complete a four-year graduate program at an accredited naturopathic medical school and, where they are licensed, pass board exams. Traditional naturopaths train through programs that are not accredited and cannot lead to a licence. In Australia, naturopathy is not a regulated or registered profession at all (see below), so an overseas title such as "naturopathic physician" says nothing about a person's standing here.

Context

Within Spiritualism

Spiritfold has found no published source linking naturopathy with Spiritualism.

In Australian Spiritualism

In Adelaide, Rosa Tingey, a Spiritualist minister who led the Greater World Christian Spiritualist Mission in Unley and died in 1966, was remembered as a "well-known naturopath", herbalist, chiropodist and masseuse. The New Age Spiritualist Mission, which inherited her Unley property, describes her as a healer and medium with a keen interest in healing with herbs. Her naturopathy was her own work. Spiritfold has found no Australian Spiritualist organisation that lists naturopathy among its activities.

A Spiritualist perspective

Rosa Tingey's story, told above, is a good example of how one person can serve in more than one way: as a minister, as a medium and healer, and as a naturopath in her working life. A Spiritualist would see no conflict in that, provided each role is kept in its proper place. Naturopathy is a health profession with its own training, assessments and treatments. Spiritual healing is something quite different: the healer acts as a channel, makes no diagnosis, recommends nothing and leaves the outcome to spirit.

So a Spiritualist naturopath would not bring case-taking or supplements into the healing chair, nor present their naturopathic work as part of the church's ministry. Keeping the two apart lets the person receiving healing know exactly what they are being offered, and by whom. For anyone receiving either, we would add the same caring advice: keep your doctor informed, and be wary of anyone who suggests giving up your medical treatment.

Naturopathy in Australia

Australia has one of the highest rates of use of complementary medicine practitioners among developed countries. Naturopathy is one of the most popular forms, with more than 4.9 million naturopathic consultations each year.

Training and associations

Naturopaths in Australia typically train to diploma or degree level, and some naturopathic organisations set a minimum qualification such as an advanced diploma or a bachelor's degree. Better Health, in its page produced with the Australian Naturopathic Practitioners Association, describes a professional naturopath as someone who holds at least an Advanced Diploma in Naturopathy or Health Science (usually a bachelor-level qualification), belongs to a professional body and is properly insured. Professional associations have standards of practice and codes of ethics, and many keep directories of practitioners. The Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia (NHAA) represents Western herbalists and naturopaths.

Regulation

Naturopathy is not a regulated or registered profession in Australia. In practice this means anyone can practise naturopathy, with or without training. The Natural Therapies Review noted that, although professional bodies set educational standards for most of the therapies it examined, those standards may not be the same everywhere, and many studies do not say whether the people giving the therapy held any particular qualification.

In place of government registration, the profession regulates itself. Naturopaths must belong to a professional association to obtain professional indemnity insurance. They have also set up an independent register, the Australian Register of Naturopaths and Herbalists (ARONAH), which requires practitioners to meet competency standards and hold a minimum qualification. When pointing people to qualified practitioners, Better Health lists the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) for registered professions such as Chinese medicine, chiropractic and osteopathy, but the NHAA for Western herbalists and naturopaths. This is why it is worth checking a naturopath's qualifications and association membership yourself.

Private health insurance and the Natural Therapies Review

Since 1 April 2019, naturopathy has been one of 16 natural therapies that private health insurers cannot cover. The exclusion followed a 2015 review of the government rebate, which found too little evidence to reach firm conclusions about how well these therapies work.

The Natural Therapies Review 2024 looked at the evidence again. Its Chair, Professor Michael Kidd, explained that high-certainty evidence is hard to obtain for therapies like these, because studies often cannot use double blinding or a sham or placebo treatment. He therefore recommended re-inclusion where there was moderate-certainty evidence of effectiveness for at least one health outcome in one condition, and naturopathy was one of the seven therapies he recommended should become eligible again.

Safety and good practice

Keep your doctor involved

Better Health advises that, for any serious or long-term illness, you be guided by your doctor or specialist before using naturopathy, and that you treat with suspicion any practitioner who tells you to give up conventional medical treatment. This follows from naturopathy being a complementary therapy, used alongside medical care rather than instead of it.

Fasting

Naturopaths sometimes recommend fasting. Before starting a fast, Better Health advises consulting your doctor and making sure you are in the care of a qualified and reputable naturopath.

Herbs and other medicines

Most Australian naturopaths prescribe herbal medicines, and herbal medicines can interact with other medicines (the Western herbal medicine page explains how herbal products are regulated). Better Health advises telling your doctor about any herbal medicines you take or plan to take, and never stopping prescribed medicines in favour of herbs without first talking to your doctor.

What the reviews did not cover

The 2023 and 2024 evaluations did not assess safety. As in 2015, the Natural Therapies Review left safety, quality and cost-effectiveness out of its scope, because studies of effectiveness generally lacked that information.

Related modalities

• Western herbal medicine
• Homeopathy
• Iridology
• Fasting
• Flower essences

Further reading

• Better Health Channel. "Naturopathy". Department of Health, State Government of Victoria, 2015.
• Centre for Applied Health Economics, Griffith University. Evidence on the clinical effectiveness of selected nutritional supplements prescribed in the context of naturopathic practice. Australian Government Department of Health, 2024.
• Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. "Natural Therapies Review 2024". Australian Government.
• Fodero L, Stathis S and Soh N. Whole system, multi-modal or single modal interventions delivered in the context of naturopathic practice. National Health and Medical Research Council, 2023.
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. "Naturopathy". US National Institutes of Health, 2025.