Book Review: Textbook of Natural Medicine (3rd Edition), Volumes 1 & 2

 In Book Reviews, Botanical Medicine, Education, Nature Cure

Stacie Deyglio, ND

The third edition of the Textbook of Natural Medicine is a comprehensively researched and referenced natural medicine text including 90 contributors and more than 10,000 peer-reviewed literature citations. In this new, expanded version of the original textbook, authors Pizzorno and Murray have created a “blue ocean” of untapped resource demand for the complementary and alternative health field. In doing so, the authors have laid the foundation of scientific support for the philosophical and therapeutic basis of natural medicine: “Based on a sound combination of philosophy and clinical studies, this work provides the astute practitioner with a reliable information resource to provide healthcare that identifies and controls the underlying causes of disease, is supportive of the body’s own healing processes and is considerate of each patient’s unique biochemistry” (p. xiii).

The two-volume text is divided into six sections. The first is comprised of the philosophy of natural medicine, including such constructive discussions as the History of Naturopathic Medicine, Research in Natural Medicine and the Hierarchy of Healing: The Therapeutic Order. The second section includes a digest of 22 analytical, diagnostic procedures that are atypical in the conventional medical model. Section three is devoted to 18 common therapeutic modalities taught in naturopathic medical school. Section four elucidates underlying issues relevant to many diseases in a subheading called Syndromes and Special Topics, where 12 of the most common underlying causes of disease are discussed. Section five includes a digest of 80 of the most commonly prescribed botanicals, special nutrients and other natural agents, entitled Pharmacology of Natural Medicines. And section six is devoted to Specific Health Problems, and consists of a natural medicine approach to 70 individual diseases based on their pathophysiology and known causes. The Appendices of the text contain clinically relevant questionnaires, indexes and guidelines of specific natural healthcare therapies.

Screen Shot 2015-10-26 at 9.33.44 AMNew to the third edition is access to the multimedia e-dition found at www.naturalmedtext.com. A purchase of the textbook includes complete registration access with a user-specific pin number. This new web access to the text is multifunctional. It includes the entire contents of the Textbook of Natural Medicine online with search-specific capabilities. Web access also includes weekly content updates, a library of downloadable images, reference links to Medline and full text articles, access to Mosby’s drug consultant database and a Pocket Consultant. This is a most useful resource to any natural medicine practitioner, school or conventional practitioner with a desire to identify with the natural medicine repertoire!

The Textbook of Natural Medicine best embodies the Docere naturopathic principle. The text provides a skillfully documented standard of practice for natural medicine that defines the scientific age of natural health and healing.


deyglioStacie Deyglio, ND received her baccalaureate degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from the College of Mt. St. Vincent in New York. Her personal health issues paved the way to discovering naturopathic medicine in 1999. Resonating with the philosophy and principles of naturopathic medicine, Dr. Deyglio graduated from the University of Bridgeport, College of Naturopathic Medicine in 2003. As a medical student, she was involved in student government, fundraising and the generation of two successful student-run health fairs. Dr. Deyglio’s interests include relating integrative therapeutics to the health of pediatric and geriatric populations. Currently residing in Phoenix, Dr. Deyglio is an avid bookworm, and is actively creating her practice.

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