Quoted message said:
Apparently the State of California's legislature late in 2003 passed a
licensing law, whereby only graduates of the three accredited 4-year
Naturopathic schools in the US & maybe one or two in Canada can be
licensed in the State by passing a board examination. The current
naturopaths who are not graduates of those accredited schools can
continue to practice, but apparently no longer can use the title "N.D.",
as in "Doctor". Additionally, pursuant to the new law, the newly
licensed "Naturopathic Doctors" are now allowed to do certain additional
things in their practice that the "Naturopaths" cannot, such as very
minor "surgery", etc. Apparently, relatively few practicing N.D.'s
qualify for licensing in California as, at least educationally, they
don't meet the new law's requirements.
I also found that only 13 states plus a couple of U.S. Territories have
licensing laws for Naturopaths, but I don't know how similar they are to
California.
This makes me curious as to what kind of professional education one
would run into if it wasn't from one of the few accredited schools.
What is the "norm"?
Kathy, there are two main types that represent the "Norm" outside of the few 4
year graduates. The first are people who think like Chuck, aka DrCEEPhD. They
read a few things about auto-toxicity, failure/corruption/personal
misconduction in some aspect of healthcare, and decide that the old ways were
right and the new ways are a conspiracy. They root their beliefs in stuff from
the "golden age" of medicine, the 1800's.
The second group are a bunch of people who got a mail order degree from a
church affliated group. Their doctrine is not as conspiracy based, but their
methods aren't too far apart from them.
Their diagnostic methods range from iridology, muscle testing (applied
kinesiology), aura diagnosis (kirlian photography), palpation, tongue/pulse
readings, and galvanic skin response. Their treatment methods usually include
some sort of supplements (vitamins, amino acids, or some "nutraceutical"😉, some
sort of cleanse (colon, liver, kidey, lung, lymph), some sort of dietary
recomendation (don't eat X, eat more of Y, don't eat X & Z together), and of
course Zappers, Rife Machines, Colonics, homeopathics, herbal formulas,
affirmations/mantras.
In some cases, you may find someone with a good combination of
Massage/Chiropractic/Physical therapy along with some practical nutrition and
exercise advice. In most cases, you'll get someone whose practice is rooted in
old belief systems and not aligned with science. The advice can range from
silly (don't use fluorescent lights) to pernicious (vaccines don't work,
viruses don't cause disease, etc).
The norm is very inconsistent and quite frankly, scarily dangerous.
