Urine therapy

Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield · J. W. Armstrong, Coen van der Kroon · 1944

What it is

Urine therapy (also called urotherapy, urinotherapy, auto-urine therapy or, in India, shivambu) is the drinking of one's own urine and its application to the skin, gums, eyes, ears or other body sites as a health practice. Its core idea, as proponents state it, is that urine is not waste but a…

Format

• Organisations and gatherings. World Conferences on Urine Therapy were held in Goa, India (1996) and Gersfeld, Germany (1999, about 250 attendees from over 40 countries, organised by van der Kroon). Since the 2010s the practice spreads mainly through Facebook groups, Instagram hashtags and…
• Who practises it. Mostly lay self-practice guided by books, online groups and influencers; also some naturopaths and a minority of doctors. A related variant is drinking camel urine, used by 15.7% of complementary-medicine users in a Saudi cancer-patient survey.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Regulation. No licensing body certifies urine therapists. Injection or other invasive administration is a medical procedure that only legally authorised clinicians may perform, and doing so with urine is not an accepted procedure anywhere. Marketing urine products or courses with disease claims falls under advertising and consumer-protection law in most jurisdictions.
• Report where safeguarding or regulatory duties apply.
• Regulatory status (one line): urine therapy is not a licensed medicine or a regulated profession in the main jurisdictions; in China a national urine-therapy association was reportedly declared an illegal organisation in 2016.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status (one line): no scientific evidence supports urine as a medical therapy.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• your sarcasm, over-correction or avoidance of the topic. Working: the client talks about it as plainly as any other health practice.
• refusal of consent driven by fear of ridicule (work on that); the client hearing your contact as betrayal. Working: the client and doctor are talking directly.
• missed oncology appointments, disease progression reinterpreted as "cleansing", family splitting. Working: the client re-engages with the medical team, even partially.
• reporting that the client experiences as betrayal (involve them where safe); confidentiality limits — explain them first. Working: concerns reach the body able to act.
• a child with untreated eye or skin infection, missed appointments, the child being told to keep it secret. Working: the child is seen medically and the parent stays engaged.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.