" Medicine is the science that deals with the health of people or animals, the definition, prevention and treatment of diseases" . This is the definition of Wikipedia. Put like this, one wonders why there are different types of "medicine": to understand it, a short journey through time is necessary, in the history of medicine, which is also the double history of allopathic medicine and naturopathy.

Brief history of medicine

About 3, 000 years ago, health legislation and advanced medical art were already in force among the Egyptians and Babylonians, rich in surgical instruments and notions of the medicinal properties of plants and flowers, but also of the influence of the stars and of their causes. health and disease

Strong impulses to the evolution of medicine were given by the great scholars of ancient Greece: Hippocrates and Galen two names of all.

In the decay of the Roman Empire there was a regression of medical practices. It was the monks, along with the "Arab School" and the "Scuola Salernitana" who handed down the ancient culture, allowing medicine to reawaken. The first medical universities were born and in 1300 the Bologna school opened the first school of anatomy. Medieval medicine was a collection of ancient ideas and spiritual influences . The prevailing medical theories of the time placed the main attention on religious explanations .

The invention of printing (16th century) and its consequent diffusion gave a new impulse to scientific research : anatomy and physiology were discovered and deepened.

From 1800 to the present day, technological and scientific progress have given a considerable boost to the development of medicine, pharmacology, diagnostic methods and medical instrumentation, in continuous improvement and evolution.

Traditional medicines

For the sake of brevity, we have left out the history of traditional medicines : traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine are just a few examples. Nowadays they are almost not affected by time and with all their wealth of information, advice and suggestions on lifestyles and health that are very often confirmed by modern scientific discoveries.

Allopathic medicine and naturopathy

We arrive with a single logical leap on the side of allopathic medicine and naturopathy.

In the West, the development of recent centuries has laid the foundations for a very marked break. On the one hand, the so-called allopathic medicine has developed (literally "that cures diseases with other" ) , supported by research and scientific-technological progress, from the academic world and taught to the medical class and based on the concepts of diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, all the various alternative medicines (including homeopathic medicine, which literally "remained) treats the like with the like ") whose validity has not been scientifically established and which use methods and assumptions different from those of allopathic medicine. Naturopathy is located within the latter.

Naturopathy deals with the well - being of the person as a whole .

These are the areas of competence of naturopathy: well-being, education and health promotion, the restoration of balance through methods, which may eventually support allopathic medicine therapies.

Without entering into merit or into controversy, we therefore open a possibility of dialogue and collaboration between allopathic medicine and other medicines.

We can hazard a distinction between allopathic medicine and naturopathy, as drastic as all extremisms, but with a foundation of truth: allopathic medicine treats diseases and all emergencies in which life is at risk, while naturopathy (and alternative medicines in general) maintain health, support and improve it.