Aligning holism and complexity: An exploration of naturopathic clinical reasoning.

Naturopathy is founded on the traditional philosophy of holism. This perspective is consistent with the contemporary paradigm of complexity science, enabling modern, scientific language and research tools to be used to progress our understanding of naturopathic case management.

Naturopathy is founded upon the traditional philosophy of holism, while biomedically based medical services tend to be aligned with reductionism. The recent emergence of complexity science provides a congruent framework to develop our understanding of naturopathy using contemporary scientific methods and language.Complexity science tools and strategies were employed to analyse and explore the clinical reasoning and case management processes of naturopaths. Case studies were analysed using exploratory data analysis and computational network analysis. This research demonstrates that complexity science offers a potential contemporary paradigm to develop our analysis, understanding, and promotion of traditional whole systems of medicine, such as naturopathy.

Learning objectives

1. Complexity science offers a contemporary scientific framework which can be used as the basis for exploring naturopathic philosophy and practice
2. Holism is both a traditional concept and a defining feature of complexity science
3. Naturopathic clinical reasoning and case management processes can be analysed using a scientific approach that is based on holistic rather than reductionistic scientific principles