Person-centred decisions in herbal and naturopathic practice and Editorial Board update

Abstract

Western herbalism has remained relatively stable in terms of materia medica and overarching practice approaches since its use by European ancients. Twenty first century herbalists’ workarounds could be summed up by the saying ‘old herbs, new tricks’, with scope of changes being mainly about herbal selection, availability, preparations, validation, extraction methods and dosages. Naturopathy, on the other hand, has undergone a type of recrafting in the 21st century, and a re-discovery of its original basis or identity. Naturopathy being defined by its treatment modalities (e.g. herbal medicine, nutrition, homoeopathy, counselling, massage etc) has moved on to a definition based on its holistic philosophy, and uniquely codified principles of practice. Although the same modalities are applied, re-defining of practice has shifted the emphasis back to the individual needs of people seeking help.