Traditional NaturopathyHistory — The History of Traditional NaturopathyEarly NaturopathyIn looking at the natural healers and naturopaths of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, one can find many common points. All of them believed in healing by bringing strength to the individual rather than by curing specific diseases. All had a reverence for nature, and many of them could point to specific observations that led to the formation of theories and practices. Personal experience of illness and recovery often led them to practice natural healing. They frequently learned from each other or studied on their own, instead of, or in addition to, receiving a formal education. Most were persecuted by the medical establishment. Those on record were highly successful, bringing good health to many people. Some Basic Tenets and Theories of Natural HealingWhether they emphasized the use of hydrotherapy, nutrition, manipulation, herbs, or homeopathy, the goal for all practitioners of natural healing was to stimulate the body to heal itself. Vis medicatrix naturae, or the healing power of nature, remains central to naturopathic philosophy today. Rather than trying to attack specific diseases, natural healers focus on cleansing and strengthening the body. Regardless of the specific methodology, and regardless of whether the healer practiced in the last century or is active today, the approach remains basically the same. The European HealersNaturopathy as a discipline began in 19th century Europe. Known simply as “the nature cure,” it spread to the United States and acquired its present name around the turn of the century. Some of the European fathers of Naturopathy were: Vincent Priessnitz (1799-1852) Priessnitz developed a system of water cures that he used successfully on himself and many others. Priessnitz relied on nothing except cold water, a simple diet, and physical activity to heal his patients. “Our task,” he would say, “is not to treat the disease, but the patient.” Theodor Hahn (1824-1883) Largely self-taught, Hahn was a lay practitioner who advocated using the water cure along with a vegetarian diet. “Hahn held the very modern belief that the nature doctor should be an educator who brought the knowledge of healthful living and natural treatments to the people so that they would realize they were responsible for their own health.” Arnold Rikli (1823-1906) Rikli, who was well educated as an industrialist but who had no formal medical education, employed the water cure and diet as healing modalities but also added the use of air and sunlight baths. He is known for saying, “Water is good; air is better, but light is best of all.” Father Sebastian Kneipp (1824-1897) Father Kneipp provided the link between the European nature cure and American Naturopathy. Kneipp was a priest, and physical healing was as much a part of his ministry as was saving souls. His approach to healing was holistic, advocating “the balance between work and leisure, stress and relaxation and the harmony between the mental, emotional, physical, social, and ecological planes. In short, ‘he asked for a different life, not for better pills; he asked for the active patient and rejected the passive one.’” Although their methods were similar, these healers were not in exact agreement. However, they were all working to muster the healing forces within each patient and, hence, they all practiced something that is closely akin to Naturopathy. Naturopathy in AmericaBenedict Lust (1872-1945) gave Naturopathy its name. Born in Germany, Lust (pronounced Loost) came to the United States in 1892 to seek his fortune. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for us today, he contracted a severe case of tuberculosis and returned home to die. Instead he found Father Kneipp and was healed. In 1896 he returned to the United States sanctioned by Kneipp to spread the word about the water cure. Lust’s ideas about natural healing were eclectic. While he was a proponent of the Kneipp Cure, he combined it with modalities he had learned from many of the other European nature doctors. By 1902, Lust had opened a Naturopathic sanatorium, established a Naturopathic college, begun a Naturopathic magazine, and opened a store that sold Kneipp products. Throughout his career, Lust spent much time and energy in fighting the American Medical Association and his local government. Naturopathy was often embroiled in controversy. In fact, its name is controversial and the true origin of the name is unclear. It is known that the word was coined, possibly from “nature” and “homeopathy,” a system of healing that Naturopaths had begun to use. Many early Naturopaths objected to the name because, in literal translation, it means natural disease. However, Lust credited it with helping to end his persecution. “The prosecution became so intense that we could not use the words cure, healing, therapy, therapist, physician, doctor, or any similar title. We were all in despair. Finally we decided to use the word ‘Naturopath’ as being the only safe term by which we could designate ourselves as having to do with ‘the nature cure’ and disease (1921,479).” Benedict Lust was a man of strongly held opinions. For example, he was: “Opposed to the processing of foods because such ‘manufacture’ tends to destroy their true nutritional values... Opposed to the administrations of all drugs and narcotics because they are unnatural elements which the human body is not capable of assimilating... Opposed to the regimentation of the American people under medically controlled elements because such legislation will wipe out other methods of treatment and bring inestimable damage to the health of every man, woman,and child affected... Opposed to any legislation which in practice would prevent a family from attending to its own ills or the choosing, by such family, of any type of treatment it might desire because such legislation restricts personal liberty and tends to take from the American people the right to use the beneficial homespun efficient remedies which have been handed down from generation to generation.” Other American HealersAs with most of the European healers, the American experience was that “incurable” illness led to healing through natural means and then to the desire to help others. Dr. Henry Lindlahr (1862-1924) was an industrialist until he developed “incurable” diabetes, which was always fatal in his day. He then sought help from Father Kneipp. Upon recovery, at the age of 40, he embarked on medical school. In addition, he supplemented his classroom education with private instruction in osteopathy and an independent study of diet and nutrition. He began his practice as a natural healer before he received his medical degree. Lindlahr relied primarily on the most basic of natural remedies: proper diet, fresh air, light, water, and physical activity. As a child Otis G. Carroll (1879-1962) suffered from rheumatic fever and severe juvenile arthritis. He found help from Alex LeDoux, a medical doctor who had studied with Father Kneipp. After his cure, he studied herbalism, then later studied with LeDoux. It was only after these years of informal education that he enrolled at the Cleveland College of Chiropractic, and while continuing his informal education with Dr. Lindlahr. The focus of Carroll’s practice was on improving his patients’ abilities to digest foods and absorb nutrients. To do this, he relied on hydrotherapy, herbs, and diet. A number of other American doctors were important in the development, public interest and acceptance of natural healing and Naturopathy, including Louisa Lust, the wife of Benedict. Having studied in Europe with Arnold Rikli and others, she was already practicing as a natural healer before she met Lust. Others of note were Frederick W. Collins, a drugless physician who helped Dr. Lust spread the word about Naturopathy in America; Linda Burfield Hazard (1850-1939), a proponent of fasting; Bernarr Macfadden, originator of “Physcultopathy;” and many more. The American Naturopathic AssociationIn 1902, Benedict Lust organized the Naturopathic Society of America, which was reorganized as the American Naturopathic Association (ANA) in 1919. In 1921, Lust was elected president for life. Shortly after he died, the organization split in two, forming the Eastern ANA and the Western ANA, each with its own constitution, officers, programs, and conventions. Personality conflicts as well as philosophical difference led to the split. The Eastern naturopaths were determined to follow the example set forth by Kneipp et al., while those in the West seemed determined to “medicalize” naturopathy. “The two camps developed their own textbooks which showed their different points of view: Paul Wendel’s Standardized Naturopathy (1951) and Harry Riley Spitler’s Basic Naturopathy (1948).” Natural Healers and EducationIt seems that most, if not all, of the American naturopaths whose work is well documented had some kind of formal training in the natural healing arts or in medicine. However, not all of this formal education occurred before they began to practice. For example, after learning natural healing from Father Kneipp and others informally and then establishing his practice, Benedict Lust earned degrees in osteopathy and medicine. When the American School of Naturopathy, which he had founded, gained its charter in 1905, it conferred on Lust the Doctor of Naturopathy degree. Early practitioners of “the nature cure” learned through observation and self experimentation. Later healers learned by apprenticeship. Some had a conventional medical education but rebelled against it, and still others were educated in osteopathy and chiropractic, with the addition of intense independent study. As to what kind of education these healers recommended for others, there was alsovariation. One healer, who felt that doctors should be artists rather than scientists, said “Furnish them with the necessary portion of anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. But not too much of it.(Schweninger 1926, 43-46).” Benedict Lust founded the American School of Naturopathy in 1901. Here students learned “basic sciences, physiotherapy, phytotherapy, geotherapy, electrotherapy, mechanotherapy. Degrees in naturopathy and chiropractic were granted.” Lust also established a school of massage and physiotherapy. In addition to classroom education, he offered naturopathic home-study courses through his journal. In 1947, in a speech before the Eastern ANA, Dr. Jesse Mercer Gehmann, president at the time, stated, “We need standards and we need more, to stand by them, once they are established... These standards should insist upon a thorough training in basic Nature Cure. All students should be required to be thoroughly competent in applying the methods of the old Masters... Our standards should include thorough training through study of Kneipp, Priessnitz, Just, Kuhne, Rikli, Trall, Schroth, Graham, Jennings, Lust and Macfadden... We need adequate standards for entrance upon training for a Doctorate in Naturopathy, but these standards need NOT be, nor should they be patterned after the medical requirements. Our work is not based on awarped and decadent pathology, bacteriology, or biology (cited in Freibott 1990, #7).”
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