Traditional Western and Oriental Medicine Techniques

A stressful work schedule accompanied by long nights working on school projects has at times taken a toll on my physical health. Any physical discomfort or illness recognized will lead to self-diagnosis process on my part. Waking up in the morning with a runny nose, and body aches – symptoms are assessed and noted, separate from each other. (How severe are the aches and pains? What color is the fluid from the nose?) From a short assessment of the symptoms, I can begin to make a better judgment of the underlying causality. Based on my personal feelings on the severity of the sickness a decision is made as to whether or not to seek professional medical attention. This process of compartmentalizing symptoms to properly determine the underlying cause of the illness or disease is the standard process of Western Medicine. Western physicians will diagnose a patient using a method of searching for a single entity – or cause of disease. This procedure of medical diagnosis seen commonly throughout the Western World differs tremendously from the methodology used in Traditional Oriental Medicine. The practices of Oriental Medicine, thousands of years old, are still utilized throughout the Orient and even in parts of the Western World. The Western diagnostic techniques aforementioned are unlike Oriental Medicine’s – which relies less on the process of pinpointing a single cause for bodily illness and instead focuses on all symptoms as a whole and how they affect the patient’s bodily disharmony. Traditional Oriental Medicine’s diagnostic processes are driven by a way of thinking and problem-solving processes that are most unlike those that are the foundations of Western Medicine; which have resulted in personal misconceptions about the lack of rationale and logic involved in Oriental Medicine.

Being a product of the Western World, and being largely removed from Eastern culture, the holistic and spiritual stigma attached to Oriental Medicine has in the past led to a gross misunderstanding of what Oriental Medicine actually “is”. Personal prejudices stemming from Western physicians’ ability to diagnose and cure diseases using pharmaceuticals rather than natural herbal remedies resulted in me ignorantly labeling any sort of cure for illness from the Orient as a placebo effect. This view of Western science being the omnipotent force in the Medical World is a common theme. Almost as common as the polar opposite view held by many; that Traditional Chinese Medicine has a better grasp on medical cures – as its roots are thousands of years in the making, and more spiritual in nature. Little insight into Traditional Chinese Medical remedies besides a heavy reliance on herbs, such as ginseng and animal products, for prescriptions, and acupuncture (Wiseman & Feng 904) assisted in personal judgment being passed upon Oriental Medicine, and those who would buy into the illogical nature of a seemingly wannabe-spiritual diagnostic technique branded as Medical. A naturally skeptical individual, this quasi-religious pedestal that Oriental medicine can be placed on, clouded my own judgment that Traditional Oriental Medicine could have any real logical basis, or any ability to cure or heal individuals. For many years, I would rationalize this distrust of Oriental Medicine by the Western World’s reputation for curing disease and medical advances that save lives daily. Since its discovery in 1928 London, Penicillin has saved countless (estimated over 100 million) lives ("Bacteriologist ALEXANDER FLEMING.") – something I had not, and still have yet to, hear of any herbs or acupuncture accomplishing. If I was to develop symptoms such as a fever, sore throat, and generalized fatigue – there are possibilities antibiotics would be sought or prescribed, should the attending physician be of Western schooling and thought. The knowledge of the way that Western Medicine revolutionized the scientific World aided in molding my perception of any alternative methods to medicine; any claims of medical cures or treatments not rooted in Western science must be completely irrational. Although there are no documented corresponding staggering numbers of lives saved associated with Oriental Medicine, once the time was taken to have a closer look at the underlying mechanisms of Traditional Oriental Medicine – it can be seen that there is not a lack of rationale behind diagnostic processes, just a dichotomy between the Eastern and Western World’s Medical strategies.

Understanding the concept of Oriental, or Chinese Medicine hinges almost entirely on a knowledge of the Chinese Yin and Yang theory. This “synthetic or dialectical” (Kaptchuk 13) logic of Yin and Yang is the notion that all parts of natural change can only be understood by understanding the whole. That no entity can ever be truly isolated from others, it will always have an effect and be affected by other forces. This is not to say that Yin and Yang are tangible entities of their own or irrational supernatural forces. They are simply terms coined by early Chinese Naturalist and Taoists, to describe relationships between forces, and their effects. (Kaptchuk 14) The terms Yin and Yang are used to designate most nouns and concepts into contrary, yet united, categories. If applying the concept to genders, the male gender is understood to be Yang and the female to be Yin. Simply, the Yin-Yang theory states that the definition of “female” cannot be understood without the contrast of “male”, that they exist only in relation to each other. (Kaptchuk 15) This theory and school of thought are applied to Traditional Chinese Medicine, and how diagnoses are made within the Oriental Medical field. The physical body (Yin) and the bodily functions within (Yang) are both only able to exist, depending upon the activity of the other. (Kaptchuk 14)

Similar to Yin-Yang theory, the diagnostics of Oriental Medicine are also based on all entities (organs) being interconnected and functionality depending on and is affected by all others. This is referred to in Traditional Chinese Medicine as the Five Phases theory. The conceptual structure of the Five Phases is similar to Yin-Yang in that it categorizes different mechanisms, or organs in this case, into five different groups – all of which being natural elements or agents: wood, fire, earth, metal, water. The order of said elements in the Five Phases Theory is important, as per Oriental Medicine’s teachings they affect each other in a cyclical fashion, known as the generating cycle. There is also a system of checks and balances that illustrates how each element is both intensified and appeased, known as the controlling and insulting cycles of the Five Phases. (Eg: Metal generates the element of water, which in turn generates wood. Water can “control” fire, but is worsened in the same respect by fire, if the entity represented by fire is in some respect more powerful than that represented by water.) A similar concept to that recognized in Yin-Yang theory in that all elements are observed as being a single functioning unit but can be broken down into distinguishing parts. Paramount mother organs are associated with each element in the same composition and position as the natural elements, for the Oriental Medical application of the Five Phases. (Wood: liver, fire: heart, earth: spleen, metal: lung, water: kidney). The same pattern of generation and balance are seen in organs being the placeholders for elements: Lungs are the generating organ of the kidney, and the kidney generates the liver. (Silvin 73) When one mother organ over or under functions, there is said to be disharmony in the body – which in Oriental medicine is the definition of illness. The mother organs do not always correspond with internal organs in the same region, and other regions of the body that would be seemingly inconsequential in Western diagnosis are also taken into account in Oriental medicine for diagnostic purposes, however the theory is still the foremost diagnostic technique used in Oriental Medicine. Understanding of both the Yin-Yang and Five Phases theories alleviates some of the mystical stigma attached to the basis upon which Traditional Chinese Medicine’s physicians can properly diagnose and cure an illness.

Western and Traditional Oriental Medicine’s methods of searching for a cause of an illness differ not only in technique but in remedies as well. To distinctly understand the fundamental differences between how Traditional Eastern and Western Medical fields approach diagnoses of patients, the examination of a study done of patients diagnosed by both methods can be of use. Patients all afflicted by similar symptoms are seen by a Western physician, (by means of X-Ray and endoscopy) are all diagnosed with peptic ulcer disease. When then seen by a Traditional Chinese physician, all patients were given different diagnoses, depending on bodily disharmony – all illnesses diagnosed given names specific to the patient, but of obviously very different origins than of Western Medicine. (Eg: “Damp Heat Affecting the Spleen”). (Kaptchuk 12) While Western physicians generally prescribe medications such as stomach acid blockers (Longstreth) for such a disease, the Traditional physician prescribed a personalized set of plants and herbs for each patient. After the Traditional treatment was completed, Western evaluations showed 81.5 percent of patients to have completely recovered. (Kaptchuk 19) Studies similar to this, showing comprehensive positive results for Traditional Oriental Medicine, keeps the alternative to Western Medicine alive and a seemingly viable option for some.

Utilizing herbs and a system of diagnosis focusing on bodily disharmony, Traditional Oriental Medicine’s fundamentals are radically different than what is utilized in the Western Medical world. Although these diagnostic and prescription methods are unlike those most, myself included, have seen or experienced – the misconception that their basis is in mystics or illogical reasoning is unfounded. The techniques used do not have the documented numbers of life-saving remedies that Western Medicine has at its disposal, but at the same token does follow a logical and consistent system for diagnosis. Personal experiences with Western Medicine resulted in largely unfounded prejudices against Oriental Medicine. However, if diagnosed with a life-threatening illness it’s doubtful penicillin could hurt.

Works Cited

Kaptchuk, Ted J. Chinese Medicine: The Web That Has No Weaver. London: Rider, 2000. Print.

Ho, David. "Bacteriologist ALEXANDER FLEMING." TIME.com. N.p., 29 Mar. 1999. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.

Longstreth, George F. "Peptic Ulcer: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.

Wiseman, Nigel, and Ye Feng. A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine. Brookline, MA: Paradigm Publications, 1998. Print.

Sivin, Nathan. Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China: A Partial Translation of Revised Outline of Chinese Medicine (1972): With an Introductory Study on Change in Present Day and Early Medicine. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1987. Print.