Theory of Naturopathy

An overarching framework theory of naturopathy combines several components that are intended to give an impression of the therapeutic influence of autoregulation and self-organisation. At the centre of this view are concepts of self-regulation, which in summary consider the interaction between the self and the environment as characteristics of life organisation.

To this end, the linear cause-and-effect model of disorders and illness as a statistically measurable distribution of physiological parameters and their deviations, as characterised by the scientific biomedical concept, is deliberately abandoned.

Homeodynamics and Naturopathy

The fluid exchange between the environment (exteroception) and the inner world (enteroception and proprioception) requires a thorough knowledge of the different modalities and environmental stimuli, as well as of the reactive physiological systems with their possible stimulus responses.

Of particular importance are the motor reflex relationships, which are both segmentally connected in the spinal cord and centrally organised in the midbrain and accompany negative affects (e.g. anger, fear, sadness) with reflexive tensions of the musculature via their complex control. (Hildebrandt & Amelung, 1985)

Phase model and adaptation

Adaptation refers to the adjustment to continuous and repeated stimulus reactions that increase resistance to the triggering stimuli. These are primary physiological survival strategies. The vegetative regulatory systems become unbalanced in the event of severe stress and stabilise again with excessive reactions.

This behaviour is also described as an alarm and emergency reaction and follows a three-phase pattern of vegetative switching from a para-sympathicotonic to a sympathicotonic and back to the para-sympathicotonic reaction state. From a metabolic perspective, these phases are also referred to as:

Stimuli that are strong enough to trigger adaptations due to their intensity, quality and duration are called adaptogens. In stress research, they are referred to as stressors. Adaptation takes place as a physiological process at all regulatory levels of the organism, from basal cell reactions to complex adaptations of the metabolism and the nervous system as a whole. A total of seven adaptation modes can be distinguished:

Tolerance-enhancing and capacity-enhancing adaptations

Adaptation processes help to cope better with the stimulus load and thus develop an increase in resistance. From a physiological point of view, tolerance-increasing sort adaptations:

• Receptor adaptation
• Nervous inhibition
• Increased resistance
• Conditioning

capacity-increasing adaptations, which take more time. The latter include

• Metabolic adjustments
• Changes in the energy balance
• Growth processes
• Formation of insulating and protective fabrics

Adaptive normalisation

The course of adaptive normalisation is circaseptically periodic. The change from the trophotropic phase to the ergotropic phase and vice versa takes place in waves and corresponds to an alternating basic rhythm. The increased capacity in the adaptation process causes an increasing damping of the reaction amplitudes.

Fig. 4 - Schematic representation of the triggering of reactive periodicity by adaptogenic stimulation (according to Hildebrandt, 1985 as cited in Melchart, 2002, p. 35)

The cortical organisation also carries out adaptation processes, in particular by avoiding negative self-evaluation, defending against external threats and down-regulating stressful impulses.

Training body awareness (breathing therapy, relaxation techniques) and focussing on mindfulness exercises increase the ability to focus attention on self-perception as a whole and to better understand and accept body signals. This can result in a more conscious way of dealing with oneself and thus an increased health awareness.

Psychological resilience is made up of three main components:

• An inner attitude of being able to cope with life despite adverse circumstances
• Recognising stressful events as a challenge to develop
• Developing the ability to recognise oneself as part of life

This is also where cognitive therapies to increase stress resistance come in.

For the ordering therapy of naturopathy, impulses for autoregulatory cognitive work are therefore just as relevant as the (re)ordering of life goals. They are basically elementary for any sensitive communication in the practitioner-patient situation.

Crisis processing model

Proactive knowledge of phase models for dealing with crises and stressful life situations, about which much has been written in recent decades, also appears helpful in this regard. The best-known and most practically comprehensible model describes four phases that are interwoven with and in sequence (Kübler-Ross, 1994) :

• Not wanting to admit it, shock and excessive demands
• Erupting emotions, overcompensation, acting and actionism
• Negotiation, depression, fatigue, grief
• Adaptation to reality, acceptance, new self-perception and relationship to the world

The phases are cycled through in crises. From a therapeutic point of view, it is important to recognise the current focus in each situation in order to provide appropriate and meaningful support.

The stimulus-response principle in application

Stimulus design plays a central role in naturopathy. Its effect depends not only on how the stimulus is applied but also on the reaction to the stimulus and the individual conditions under which this reaction occurs.

Reaction typology

Reaction typology here refers specifically to all conditions that modulate the reaction to therapeutic stimuli and therefore require consideration in therapy, such as skin sensitivity to light stimuli, sensitivity to thermal stimuli, sensitivity to touch, sensitivity to mechanical stressors, which are individual, age or gender-specific, e.g. different stimulus processing in the rhythm of the menstrual cycle and especially all factors of the individual starting position at the beginning of a therapy.

Stimulus dosage

The stimulus dosage follows the Arndt-Schulz rule (see also Arndt, 1885), which distinguishes between three stimulus intensities:

• Weak stimuli that do not significantly exceed the adaptation level, can be easily compensated for and can trigger integrative processes through frequent repetition
• Strong stimuli that have an adaptogenic effect by triggering immediate adaptation processes in the sense of a training stimulus
• Very strong stimuli that lead to excessive and inhibitory reactions

Responsiveness

The individual readiness to respond is decisive in determining how responsive the patient is to the diagnostic-therapeutic measures, whether a patient reacts as a responder, non-responder or worse responder.

In addition to analysing and adapting the stimuli to the observed reaction, naturopathy also uses constitutional reaction typologies for this purpose.

However, the terms constitutional and vegetative reaction are somewhat blurred. Within the field of spa medicine:

• anamnestic questioning on stimulus tolerance (Lampert typology),
• Test procedure to estimate the individual level of reaction, usually to temperature stimuli, and
• Determination of the vegetative reaction and resting state based on key parameters such as pulse-breathing quotient, resting pulse rate, sleep behaviour and their dependence on gender and age

and subjected to analyses. They require further systematic research, which was started by studies on bio-rhythmics in the 1970s and pushed out of research as part of EBM in the mid-1990s. Recent research into psycho-neuro-immunology is revisiting the understanding of reaction phases to stressors (Schubert et al., 2021).

Sources and references

• Arndt, R. (1885). Die Neurasthenie (Nervenschwäche), ihr Wesen, ihre Bedeutung und Behandlung vom anatomisch-physiologischen Standpunkte für Ärzte und Studierende.
• Heim, E. (1987). Ganzheitlich Systematisches Denken. Lecture symposium on medical holism in pain therapy.
• Hildebrandt, G., & Amelung, W. (Ed.). (1985). Balneologie und medizinische Klimatologie: Band 1 Therapeutische Physiologie Grundlagen der Kurortbehandlung. Springer Publ. Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68550-7
• Kübler-Ross, E. (1994). Interviews mit Sterbenden (19th ed.). Kreuz-Publ.
• Kübler-Ross, E. (1998). Kinder und Tod (8th ed.). Kreuz-Publ..
• Melchart, D. (2002). Naturheilverfahren: Leitfaden für die ärztliche Aus-, Fort- und Weiterbildung (R. Brenke, G. Dobos, M. Gaisbauer, & R. Saller, Hrsg.). Schattauer.
• Schubert, C., Kächele, H., Dimsdale, J. E., Schüßler, G., & Atanackovic, D. (Hrsg.). (2021). Psychoneuroimmunologie und Psychotherapie (2nd edition 2015. 2nd reprint 2021). Schattauer.

Auth.: glt | Rev.: gbh | Ed.: pz | last modified May 16, 2025