Hi all. I do not mean to offend, only to say Hello. I am here. I am human and I am a reasonable person and a skeptic myself. I offer a handshake, the willingness to interact. I have plenty of friends who are MD’s and generally interact well with those who some combination of science and common sense as the basis for decisions. If you have some specific question for me, I beg of you to ask it, instead of telling me simply that I must “defend” myself. Against what? Against people who do not believe that I have a brain or any powers of discrimination? Please, ask me something specific. Then we can talk. I cannot and will not attempt to offer a medical education on in the form of a comment. I can however speak to your concerns if you can be specific about them.
Of course we are all subjective beings, with all the challenges that come with our human perspective. So be it. I am willing to look at my own and adjust it with new information. I am not an idiot and I am not a product of this particular field. I am myself, and a product of all that I have learned and experienced and studied in these almost 49 years. At this point I think I am forgetting things faster than I am learning them…so be it. Ask me for evidence of something specific and we may be able to have a conversation.
If you are interested in the slightest about the educational requirements for an ND degree, you can find them here: Professional Education - Naturopathic Medicine. The first two years are basic bioscience just like an MD. The next two years include a review of conventional standard of care and some divergent naturopathic diagnostics and treatments. The clinicals are similar, while in school, lots of patients seen, lots of interesting experiences. The greatest weakness of the education is the lack of residencies: most people go straight into practice. I was already an adult when I got the degree, with wilderness emergency medicine experience as a guide. Another great weakness of the field is that in states where a license is not required, anybody can claim to be a naturopath, hence the reasonable skepticism that a person claiming to be a naturopath has any education at all. All those people saying they are naturopaths who practice something “traditional” that has no basis whatsoever in science or reason certainly undermine my efforts at establishing credibility as a reasonable educated medical professional. Yet here I am.
My field may mix pseudoscience with facts, but that does not mean that I do. I am a person. I am not a degree. I do not represent all “naturopaths”. I have studied under quite a few rather woo woo MD’s. They thought that I would support their efforts to use homeopathy or energy machines or auras…because I am an ND. MD’s do not corner the market on science or on reason. Critical thinking exists where you find it and no degree will create or eradicate it. It depends on the person.
Ask me something of substance, see what happens. Tell me something of substance, maybe I will learn from you. I will not accuse you of nastiness when you address me as an intelligent reasonable person instead of as an idiot to be dismissed or chased off. I am listening.
Please forgive the interruptions, I have lots going on and am not going to answer here except at most once a day.
Headed out to the coast of Oregon in the morning!
Teresa Gryder
Human and Skeptic
PS and female
PPS Thanks TimB for being openminded.
PPPS We can talk about the “Parachute Study” next time.
PPPPS: ModMcKenzie this is a great quote: You cannot reason a person out of a position he did not reason himself into in the first place.
Johnathan Swift