Many people looking for a non-conventional approach to health care do not know where to turn first. Homeopathy falls into the category of energetic medicine and, in this way, is more closely related to Traditional Chinese Medicine than it is to the other well-known “alternative” medical therapy – naturopathy. Queries about the difference between naturopathy and homeopathy are frequently raised. Naturopathy is an eclectic practice that draws from a range of therapies such as herbs, homeopathy, supplements, chiropractic, oriental medicine and more. Naturopaths draw on all these modalities, often in combination, and, as a result, often in a slightly different manner than those who specialize in these areas of practice. They are the general practitioners of alternative medicine, doing a bit of many different protocols, although each naturopath will have their own preferences for treatment. Naturopathy is not necessarily holistic as it operates on more of a medical model; naturopaths are likely to make a diagnosis of a physiological dysfunction or area of weakness and treat that. They may use homeopathic remedies (often combination remedies) but not necessarily in a homeopathic way. Naturopaths often prescribe large quantities of supplements, vitamins, and other non-pharmaceutical medications.
In contrast, classical homeopathy is holistic medicine (medicine that looks at the entire organism including mind, body, and spirit), and is systematically applied at a deep energetic level to heal mental, emotional, and physical symptoms of disease and achieve well-being at these three levels of human function. Your “presenting complaints” – be they mental or physical – are the starting-off point of a homeopathic exploration, but the final goal goes well beyond the eradication of the initial symptoms to embrace a general improvement of health and vital function. While a homeopath is likely to endorse a healthy life-style and encourage good eating habits, exercise, stress reduction, and other basic elements of good health, life-style changes are not usually a central part of classical homeopathic healing. Moreover, classical homeopathy uses only homeopathic medicines prescribed according to the model of a minimum dose approach to medicating.
