Question:
Who are "Naturopathic Medicine,""Naturopathic physicians (N.D.'s) and what are they trained in the college?

Answer: According to the pamphlet, "Naturopathic Medicine,""Naturopathic physicians (N.D.'s) are general practitioners trained asspecialists in natural medicine. They are educated in the conventionalmedical sciences, but they are not orthodox medical doctors (M.D.'s).Naturopathic physicians treat disease and restore health using therapiesfrom the sciences of clinical nutrition, herbal medicine, exercisetherapy, counseling, acupuncture, natural childbirth and hydrotherapy.They tailor these approaches to the needs of an individual patient.Naturopathic medicine is effective in treating most health problems,weather acute or chronic. Naturopathic physicians cooperate with allother branches of medical science, referring patients to otherpractitioners for diagnosis and treatment when appropriate."

There are four ND medical colleges: North American College of NaturopathicMedicine, Bastyr College of Natural Health Sciences, the Canadian Collegeof Naturopathic Medicine, and the recently-opened Southwestern College ofNaturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences. These are all have four yearprograms (three years including summers at Southwestern) leading tolicensing as an ND. National College is the oldest, founded in 1956.Some offer two year programs for MD's and DO's, since the first two yearsof all colleges are pretty much the same (basic sciences).

Note that (as of '92) there are only seven states and five provinces thatlicense ND's as primary health care providers and only Connecticut andAlaska have mandatory insurance reimbursement for ND services, but over 90insurance carriers cover naturopathic medicine in the US and Canada.There are legal provisions for practice in several other states andprovinces, and 22 states and territories have professional associations.In the places where ND's are not enjoying licensure, people who have notgraduated from the four year schools may call themselves ND's withoutthreat of sanction. There are a couple of places that claim to offer ND'sthrough the mail, but these do not cut the mustard in places with decentlicensing.

Naturopathic colleges have thorough curricula, with total classroom hoursranging from 4481 to 4824 (compared with 3497+thesis at Yale, 4720 atMayo, and 5241 at Stanford). Nutrition and counseling receive well over100 hours each, while allopathic schools range from 0 to 17 hours.

The difference between allopathy and naturopathy begin with theirphilosophies, where "naturopathic physicians treat patients by restoringoverall health rather than suppressing a few key symptoms." ND's canperform minor surgery, but the emphasis is on prevention and healthrestoration.

All schools require at least three years of college (just like medicalschools), but don't require the MCAT, and perhaps a couple are not eveninterested in it. They're all private schools, with pricey tuitions,ranging from $10,000 to 12,500 (in '94), but this is modest compared tosome private (and some public) allopathic schools.