|
The term herbalist is most often a self-designation, that is, someone considers themself to be "an herbalist." This is in contrast to, for example, a medical doctor, who is so designated because he or she completed training at a medical school and then received a license from the state where the doctor is working, so that the recognition of that title, M.D., is by the combined external assessment of the medical school (for graduation) and the medical board (for licensing). A person may decide to declare themselves as an herbalist if they have studied some aspect of herbs, most often the medicinal or other health benefits of herbs. Ideally, an herbalist knows how to identify the live plant source, the part to be used and the appearance of that part when it is sold (traded) as an herb item, the way it is prepared for use, the benefits, the risks (cautions and contraindications), the dosage, as well as what is known about the traditional or historic uses of the herb, the botanical name, the key chemical constituents, the pharmacology of the herb or its isolated constituents, and what has been done with it in clinical trials or common practice. Because there are so many herbs, not all this information is likely to be retained in memory, so the herbalist has to know where to look up the details and how to interpret the information provided. Often, there is insufficient opportunities for training and there are few situations where a person's knowledge and skills can be evaluated, so herbalists can present a very wide range of capabilities and limitations.
The use of herbs varies among the different cultures, and many herbalists specialize in one area; examples are Native American herbs, or rain forest herbs, or Ayurvedic herbs (tradition of India), or Chinese herbs, or European herbs. The largest and most developed tradition is that of China, and it is in the field of Chinese medicine that there are the most formal colleges, and there are licensing boards in some places to assure that those using herbs have at least a certain basic knowledge of them. However, there is an emerging field that might be called international herbalism, where people take interest in individual herbs, regardless of their original historical and cultural uses, and utilize the individual herbs, their active components, or combinations of herbs from a variety of origins making use of them based on modern research. This type of herbalism is growing rapidly, but it is important to recognize that most of the modern research done on these herbs, especially the pharmacology experiments and clinical trials, are of poor quality, and the results must be vigorously challenged until more work is completed.
|
