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Natural health is an eclectic self-care system of natural therapies concerned with building and restoring health and wellness by working with the natural recuperative powers of the human body.
OverviewNatural health refers to the beliefs, concepts, and attitudes held by all those who practice the various forms of natural health care. It is a branch of alternative medicine (See Canoe's Dictionary of Alternative-Medicine Methods). The Natural heath movement is inclusive of all natural healing practices. Under the umbrella of natural health, come many other more restrictive practices of natural health care, such as:
The natural health movement advocates self-care as opposed to reliance on professional care-givers. Following its tradition of self-sufficiency, a large collection of natural health home remedies are being used by its followers to treat common ailments. Traditionally, this Western collective of practices are about the natural healing therapies of prevention and healthy lifestyles. The natural health movement advocates prevention and healthy lifestyles which within, certain parameters (http://tutorials.naturalhealthperspective.com/when-not-recommended.html), have been proven to work over and over again by science. Nothing about natural health prevents its alternative treatments from being used alongside conventional medical treatment. Thus, natural health can be viewed as a complementary or adjunctive form of therapy. In other words, it recognizes that conventional medicine has value for individuals who are injured, suffering from trauma, suffering from congenital or genetic disorders, and who otherwise need a highly-trained individual who can intercede to help them survive and recover. History of Natural HealthAlthough the term natural health did not become part of common usage until the late 20th Century, its roots can be traced back throughout Western history. Many of its core tenets of beliefs developed over the ages in Europe and were brought over to the New World. The 1700's--the ColoniesMedical self-care was the norm in the New World. Up to the 1750s, most folk healers in America had little medical education beyond apprenticeships. Around the time of the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), the practice of medicine was seen as more of a part-time avocation. Women and male lay practitioners took care of most medical matters including births, injuries, and illness through the use of folk medical practices. Of course, these natural healing practices varied from locality to locality with major cities, like Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City having hospitals and other medical practices approaching those found in Europe. The first recognizable forms of the natural health movement started to appear during the beginning of the 19th century, in America. The Popular Health Movement (1830 - 1840)In the 1830s the Popular Health Movement was started by a number of different reformers and activists, such as Frances Wright, dissatisfied with the practice of heroic medicine by the contemporary physicians of that time period. These activists sought to alter these heroic medical practices by incorporating and emphasizing some of the ideas that midwives and lay practitioners had long used to heal the sick. This was the period of Jacksonian democracy where self-sufficiency was prized. "For success in this frontier environment of growing America, the specialized skills - of lawyer, doctor, financier, or engineer - had a new unimportance" (Boorstin 1965). From the Popular Health Movement several natural health movements developed.
"The peak of the Popular Health Movement (in America) coincided with the beginnings of an organised feminist movement, and the two were so closely linked that it is hard to tell where one began and the other left off" ( Ehrenreich & English 1973). Between 1820-1845, Samuel Thompson (1769-1843) founded Thomsonianism, an early approach to modern Western herbalism. In 1823, The Association of Eclectic Physicians an organization of herbal doctors was founded by Dr. Wooster Beech. At its peak, eclecticism claimed more than 20,000 qualified practitioners in the United States. Eclectic medicine officially ended in 1939 due to a lack of support of its medical schools by philanthropists. The Hydrotherapy of Hydropathy, was an early nineteenth-century medical sect, which entailed various applications of cold water and zealously advocated the reformation of such personal habits as diet, dress, clean water and air, exercise, sunshine, and herbs. In Europe, interest in the hydrotherapy can be traced back to the ancient Roman spas and the hot mineral springs at Bath, England. The importance of the water-cure movement was over shadowed by allopathy, which viewed hydropathy as quackery largely because of its close association with female social activists of the time period, such as Frances Wright (Sheryl et al. 1987). In 1844, founder of Natural Hygiene, Dr. Joel Shew introduces the European system of Hydrotherapy to the United States. He later adopts the Hygieo-Therapy dietary and exercise plan, as well as its emphasis on fresh air and sunlight. In 1853, he founds the New York College of Hygieo-Therapy. In 1927, Herbert Shelton (1895-1985) of the Natural Hygiene movement was jailed for the first time for practicing medicine without a license. In 1939, Shelton's Hygienic Review magazine was published. Then in 1948, The American Natural Hygiene Society was founded. Antebellum AmericaIn 1860, Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), U.S. author and physician famously promoted the healing power of nature in a widely known annual address voicing therapeutic nihilism when he said "that if the whole materia medica, as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be so much the better for mankind – and all the worse for the fishes" (Warner 1986). Progressive Era of Health Care Reform (1890-1920)The natural health movement of Naturopathy developed during Progressive Era of Health Care Reform. In 1895, founder of Naturopathy, Benedict Lust opened the Kneipp Water-Cure Institute in New York City. In 1902, he purchased the rights to the term "naturopathy" from John H. Scheel, who had coined it in 1895. The American Institute of Naturopathy opened in 1902. Henry Lindlahr, MD wrote in his Nature Cure: Philosophy & Practice Based on the Unity of Disease & Cure about the very Western concepts of fresh air, a natural diet, water treatment with cold baths, physical culture and the importance of maintaining the right mental and emotional attitude. But, said nothing about the modern notion of stress (See Lindlahr 1922). The Modern PeriodBy the end of the 20th century the following forms of natural health were well established as a part of American culture: health food grocery stores, natural health web sites, self-care health books, and Vitamin & Nutritional Supplement dealers. Basic Core TenetsThe ideologies of natural health hold that all health, illness, and healing can be positively affected by prevention and lifestyle modifications. These natural therapies are under the control of the individual. Natural philosophyJust like any other natural philosophy, the word 'natural' in natural health is referring to the physical realm of existence.
VitalismThe most fundamental tenet of the natural health philosophy is that the human body has the capacity to heal itself.
HolismIn natural health, healing is viewed as a concerted effort of the entire organism and cannot be achieved by any part in isolation from the whole.
IndividualismAccording to individualistic ideology, individuals are capable of accepting responsibility for their personal health and taking care of themselves.
IndividualizationIn all natural health based practices, people are treated as individuals.
Victim-blamingThe victim-blaming approach to natural health follows the individualistic ideology of Western society (which is strongly rooted in the development of Protestantism, the work ethic, and American history).
Prevention is better than curePrevention emphasizes improving health rather than fighting disease.
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