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Compare and Contrast Traditional Chinese Medicine and Conventional Western Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine and western
Traditional Chinese medicine and western
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Scott Weaver
GHS 205 06
11/29/2013
Medicine in China
Chinese medicine has a tradition dating back thousands of years, but in recent years it has changed drastically. The influences of Western medicine, Communist ideology, and other government policies have been the force behind this evolution. Since 1950, Chinese medicine has been standardized and transformed into a mostly state-run program that integrates both traditional Chinese medicine and the more scientific, modern style of Western medicine. During this transition, traditional Chinese medicine struggled to find its place in the new Communist society. Today, multiple medical techniques have been blended together which allow the Chinese to receive top-notch healthcare, while retaining their culture and tradition.
Medicine in China has been practiced for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found traces of Chinese medicine dating back to the 16th Century B.C. during the Shang Dynasty. "In Shang era ruins, scholars found particles of seeds still used extensively in Chinese medicine and stone-crafted instruments resembling surgical tools. They also found the first medical records on oracle bones" (Medical Journal). Traditional Chinese medicine combines multiple methods including herbal remedies, acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, and mind-body therapy. Chinese medicine was highly connected to the spiritual world. Chinese medicine is based on "the ancient Chinese perception of humans as microcosms of the larger, surrounding universe—interconnected with nature and subject to its forces" (NCAAM).
Concepts from Daoism, Confucianism, and other schools of Chinese thought found their way into the philosophy and theory of medicine. "Qi, for example, which meant air or breath, ca...
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... to practice using Western medicine. When interviewed, many doctors have come to find that "if someone died in your care and you had relied on Chinese medicine alone, no authority would defend you against accusations of neglect. If you used only Western medicine, no one would dare blame you". In China, patients are given many treatment options, and it is ultimately up to them to decide their preferred treatment. This dynamic of multiple healthcare practices is unseen in the rest of the world.
In all, Chinese medicine has changed rapidly throughout the last sixty years. The influences of Western medicine and Communist ideology have created a plural healthcare system which is nonexistent in the rest of the world. Medicine in China has become more modern and scientific, while at the same time retaining the culture, traditions, and philosophies of the Chinese people.
This book addresses one of the common characteristics, and challenges, of health care today: the need to achieve a working knowledge of as many cultures as possible in health care. The Hmong population of Merced, California addresses the collision between Western medicine and holistic healing traditions of the Hmong immigrants, which plays out a common dilemma in western medical centers: the need to integrate modern western medicinal remedies with aspects of cultural that are good for the well-being of the patient, and the belief of the patient’s ability to recuperate. What we see is a clash, or lack of integration in the example of the story thereof. Lia, a Hmong child with a rare form of epilepsy, must enter the western hospital instead of the Laotian forest. In the forest she would seek out herbs to remedy the problems that beset her, but in the west she is forced to enter the western medical hospital without access to those remedies, which provided not only physical but spiritual comfort to those members of the Hmong culture. The herbs that are supposed to fix her spirit in the forest are not available in the western hospital. The Merced County hospital system clashes with Hmong animist traditions.
Fan, Ruiping, and Benfu Li. "Truth telling in medicine: the Confucian view." The Journal of medicine and philosophy 29.2 (2004): 179-193.
The Lancet. (2013). Towards better health for people in china. Lancet (London, England), 381(9882), 1959.
Herbal medicine has been around for thousands of years. “The ancient Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, Babylonians, and Native Americans were all herbalists”(Herbs Friends of Physicians). The ancient Greeks and Romans were also herbalists (Herbs Friends of Physicians). Traditional medicine was the dominant medical system used in both rural and urban areas until the arrival of Europeans changed the medical
Chao Yuanfang, an imperial court physician of the Sui Dynasty (the dynasty that came before the Tang), compiled Treatise on Causes and Symptoms of Diseases and started the push towards a standardized medical practice within the country. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), a near complete system of medical education had been created. The Confucius Institute Network (2009) found that the standardization and popularization of medical science, prevention, and curative knowledge had more awareness in the country than ever before. Doctors around this time realized that they could start treatment before the disease became too destructive to the patient if the symptoms or symptomatology were studied early enough to diagnose the issue. Also, diseases started to be classified by their syndromes and syndrome differentiation. Scientists and doctors worked together to follow in the footsteps of these early pioneers into the fields of etiology (the study of causation) and symptomatology to cure diseases ranging from influenza to bubonic plague or all the way to cancer.
Medicine has come a long way from the Greek period. Theories composed of the four elements were used to explain the sick phenomenon that happens to our bodies. Many of the those theories are not relevant as of now. Medicine and remedies has begun with the Earth, providing all types of compounds and mixtures to meddle with. It began with what nature offered: natural lush of sprouts, flowers, trees, bushes, herbs, and more. And now, medicine has become expanded widely through the examinations of scientists and doctors to counter or lessen many types of diseases, poisons, and epidemic that are drawn to humans.
Wong, Kiew. The Complete Book of Chinese Medicine: A Holistic Approach to Physical, Emotional and Mental Health. Beijing: Cosmos, 2002. Print.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western Medicine (WM) differ from each other in many ways. TCM favors a holistic approach, views the universe and body philosophically and develops inductive tools and methods to guide restoring the total balance of the body. In Chinese medicine, the correct balance between Yin and Yang make up the vital energy, Qi, an essential life-sustaining substance of which all things are made. Some Traditional remedies include herbal medicines, acupuncture, massage and moxibustion, an herbal heat therapy. Western medicine is closely linked to the scientific method and emphasizes biochemical processes causes disease, its treatment and health. This form of treatment views all medical phenomena as cause-effect sequences and relies on drugs, radiation and surgery to alleviate symptoms and cure diseases. As you see, the two types of medicine are completely challenged differently depending on the doctor, the diagnosis, and the treatment options. All of these are completely different when compared with each other.
China as a nation has contributed to development of society in numerous ways and have been inaugural in the world trade market since its gates were first opened. China has developed religion, with the doctrines of Buddhism, Confucius and Taoism; technology with the development of gunpowder and the compass; and world trade, with the products of silk and tea. Yet often forgotten is the contributions China has made to the medical field. The practice of traditional Chinese medicine was developed in China and is arguably one of China’s greatest achievements. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history of importance in China, incorporates Chinese culture and beliefs, and is still prominent in China and other nations today.
Traditional Chinese Medicine: An Introduction [NCCAM Backgrounder]. (n.d.).National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [NCCAM] - nccam.nih.gov Home Page. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/chinesemed.htm
The traditional Chinese treatment of acupuncture is an affective alternative medicine that has been around for thousands of years. Acupuncture is one of the most researched and documented alternative medicines around (Acupuncture). Although a vast majority of people believe Western medicine is the only cure to sickness, many people benefit from acupuncture everyday. Most people disregard the ancient art all together without giving it a chance because are scared of the needles it involves. Also, since no accurate scientific explanation of how and why it works has been found, people shy away from it. The healing powers of the body are taken to a whole different level with this alternative medicine.
When you are sick you take medicine, but there are many remedies for the same problems. The use of herbal remedies traces back to the Chinese in the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well by a compiled book in China written back more than 2,000 years ago (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). Modern medicine has roots that are more recent in the development and production of synthesize drugs (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). The old generations took herbal remedies to improve their health, but now as time and people, progressed modern medicine comes on top. Herbal and modern medicines have good and bad points, but one has qualities that are more effective.
Over the centuries, ancients made use of several treatment methods. Two of them are modern medicine and traditional medicine. Alternative medicine is older than modern one. That effective therapy has used for many centuries on the patience when modern medicine has not occurred in the world. Because it has improved in China, it can be called Traditional Chinese Medicine. In contrast, modern medicine has been in used since 1900’s. In this system, drugs’ testes are done in safety laboratories with care and nicety, and their side effects are located before they are given to the patient. However, sometimes the side effects are not blocked so, people have to take another pill to get better. It makes people to take more chemicals into their bodies. Further, modern medicine has splendid efficacy on the fatal diseases. Even, alternative medicine which people’s ancestors utilized stayed in the background when modern medicine has just found, it works at the present time efficaciously. ****** Therefore, using alternative medicine is more helpful to get better than modern medicine because there are fewer drugs, side effects; there is placebo effect and holistic therapy.
Government funding for medical research aids society. This is because financial investment in research and development (R&D) in various areas of healthcare supports the medical system, medical professionals and citizens due to improved diagnosis and treatment. In particular, government funding for pharmaceutical research contributes to social well-being. Research conducted in China for decade 2002-2012 (Qui et al. 2014, p.3) shows that the increase in funding by both public and private groups has contributed to an expansion of the pharmaceutical industry across three sectors: chemical, traditional Chinese, and bio- pharmaceutical medicines. According to the detailed analysis of government statistical data(Qui et al 2014,p.5), Chinese government spending on medical research has been targeted on specific provinces which produce botanical resources, which are in...
Over the centuries, several treatment methods have been utilized by humans for remedy diseases when they caught. Two of them are modern medicine and traditional medicine. Traditional medicine, which is also called alternative treatment, is older than modern medicine. This effective treatment had been used for many centuries before modern medicine was found. On the contrary, modern medicine has been used since the 1900’s (Lyons). In this system, drugs’ tests are carefully done in the safe laboratories, and their side effects are identified before they are given to the patient. Moreover, the effects of the pills are written on the leaflets which are found in the drug packages to warn the patients for these effects. However, sometimes the side effects are not blocked, so people have to take another pill to get better. It makes people take more chemicals into their bodies. Even traditional medicine, give its place to the modern medicine when its beginning times, it is used efficaciously like modern medicine at the present time. In course of time, people will gain reliance on traditional medicine again, since alternative medicine is more efficient and powerful in order to get better and soothe the diseases than modern medicine. In fact, in traditional medicine, there are fewer drugs, side effects, holistic therapy that people can be availed.