More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on traditional chinese medicine
Essay on Chinese traditional medicine
Essay on Chinese traditional medicine
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay on traditional chinese medicine
洪颖琳 philosophy speech
Traditional Chinese Medicine is one of the oldest medical systems in the world. It generally adresses how and what causes ilness in a particular patient and then treats the patient, not the ilness, unlike Western scientific Medicine which generally provides treatment for a specific illness.
Chinese medicine does not believe that bacteria and viruses are the cause of disease. Instead, it talks about influences that cause "disharmony" in Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang is basically a concept based on the balance between good and bad. Traditional chinese medicine belives that health is an ongoing process in your body of maintaining balance and harmony in the circulation of Qi. Qi is a kind of life force or vital energy in which traditional chinese practicioners belive circulates the body through pathway systems called meridians. Chinese people believe if we can control the Qi inside our bodies, we can treat any disease.
The roots of TCM extend back to the days of Taoism, originating with the study of the healing properties of plants and flowers. Sheng Nong Shénnóng w...
Ross defines and differentiates between the terms healing and curing. She recognizes the fact that healing and curing are very intertwined and it can be hard to distinguish between the two terms. There are differences between the definitions in scholarly and general settings. She references an ethnographic study of healing versus curing conducted by anthropologists Andrew Strathern and Pamela Stewart in 1999 with native groups in New Guinea. The results of the study looked at how energy used by the different types of tribal healers to either cure or heal a patient. Eastern medicine focuses on how energy interacts with the healing process in connection within the mind. Whereas Western medicine is focused on the mind and the body separately. The practice is considered a holistic approach to finding cures. According to Ross (2013), healing is more a therapeutic process targeting the whole body and specific illness including emotional, mental, and social aspects in the treatment. The act of curing is a pragmatic approach that focuses on removing the problem all together. The life experiences of a person playing into how well certain treatments will heal or cure what is ailing them. These aspects can not be defined with textbook definitions. The interaction that the healing process has with energy is a variable in the success rate. Uncontrolled emotions can have a greater impact on the inside the body than a person can realize. The exploration of energy interaction within the body can be used for greater analysis of health care systems. (21-22). Are Western healthcare facilities purposely “curing” patients just so that they return are few years later? Is Western Medicine built upon a negative feedback loop? The terminolo...
One of the most relaxing forms of martial arts, T'ai Chi, can help to overcome such problems as arthritis, rheumatism, back problems, lack of balance, high blood pressure, stress, post-traumatic stress, lack of energy, and more. T'ai Chi is a non violent form of the martial arts whose roots are derived from the Chinese and correlated with Traditional Chinese Medicinal techniques. There are many forms of T'ai Chi, including T'ai Chi Chuan and T'ai Chi Chih; all of which have been studied for thousands of years to improve the Chinese way of life. There have been many records of the origin of T'ai Chi reaching as far back as over 3500 years ago. In addition to a Chinese Martial Art, T'ai Chi has origins related to Taoism, which revolved around calmness, "tranquillity of mind," and the improvement of health and persona (wysiwg://25/http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tai-chi.html). Monks employed T'ai Chi as means of be coming more in tune with their bodies and their environment. Therefore, this martial art helped them to "defend themselves against bandits and warlords through physical health and spiritual growth" (http://www.maui.net/~taichi4u/overview.html).
An ancient Chinese proverb proclaims, "Nature, time and patience are the three great doctors". Nowadays more and more people choose to be treated by methods that are not based on Western systematic techniques that are the knowledge and practice of medicine which is usual in the West. These methods are known as “Alternative medicine”, which consists of homeopathy, acupuncture, aromatherapy, chiropractic medicine and others. Chinese medicine is also gaining popularity among people. The alternative way of treatment has verified its efficiency and is methodically founded, but, unfortunately, has its little disadvantages and needs a scientific base. For that reason, the alternative medicine is not generally available in all countries, and people have to pay for their individual treatment. Whereas some people consider it an ambiguity and do not dare try it because they consider it might be quite dangerous or insecure, some others just think about it as nonsense and pay little or no attention to it. People who feel anxious or doubtful of it claim that if non-traditional medicine had really worked, then appropriate doctors would have used it. Nevertheless, since the early 1980s, the alternative medicine has become increasingly popular, and although it is not officially accepted by the medical base, some doctors do accept that such methods can be effective in treating some types of illnesses. Moreover, usual medicine has its boundaries, since some illnesses are untreatable and some others which are caused by mental troubles cannot be cured by its methods (Kowalski, 1998).
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is becoming a more and more accepted form of complementary medicine in the UK. It is thought that about one million adults in Britain have had acupuncture and that a million herbal prescriptions are written every year. Even as little as ten years ago, TCM was still thought of as a border treatment and one would have been hard pressed to find a practitioner outside of London. Since then, complementary or alternative medicine has been flourishing, and Chinese medical centers have been opening on streets all around the country. “The Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine (RCHM), the self-regulating body which embodies practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine, has seen its membership grow by on average 30% per year to about 350 members at present” (Chinese Cures for British Ills, n.d.).
What is traditional medicine? Traditional medicine is the total sum of all the knowledge, skills and practices that are based on the theories, beliefs and experience that are indigenous to different cultures, and is used in the maintenance of health and in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness. Traditional medicine may also be called alternative, complementary and non-conventional interchangeably in some countries.
William Collinge quotes Chuang Tzu in his American Holistic Health Association Complete Guide to Alternative Medicine saying, "Heaven, Earth and I are living together, and all things and I form an inseparable unity" (13). Tzu's comment contrasts the traditional American dream of individualistic power and solidarity, but no matter how ethnocentric or arrogant the Western society can be at times, the influence of the world is still present. The health care system is a prime example of how the unification between world cultures brings benefits to society. The Western culture has been developing and refining scientific methods of health care for centuries. Illnesses that were incurable in the past are now treatable with drug medications and by complex surgeries. But along with the absence of the old illnesses, come new ones. People are living longer and chronic and degenerative illnesses are more common. Due to the development of new illnesses, Western medicine has been consulting the traditions and treatments from other cultures for aid in diagnosis and health care. In The American Holistic Health Association Complete Guide to Alternative Medicine, William Collinge states that, "the joining together of conventional and alternative traditions may well permit us to have a more balanced quality of life. At the least, it has helped to bring the concept of health back to medicine" (Collinge xxi). Collinge's use the word "balance" in his description of the quality of life is interesting, because a form of alternative medicine whose central focus is on the balance of the body is Chinese medicine. Due to the onslaught of new chronic and degenerative illnesses, Western culture initiated the search for ...
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.
Two types of illnesses related to this are chronic illness (lasting/terminal) and acute illness (minor e.g. the flu). Criticism of the mechanistic model is that it is slightly simplistic and may not always apply because the body cannot always be repaired. The second model is the 'Naturalistic Model', which refers to the notion of equilibrium. In order for the body to remain healthy, there must be a balance. Chinese medicine relies greatly on this notion i.e.
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.
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
Even though Taoism and many other folk religions have shaped the Chinese mind, Confucianism remains, by any historical measure, its chief mentor” (Novak 113). Therefore, since the two religions grew up together, there are similarities, such as their views on humans, attempting to find harmony in life and in nature, and serve as guides for their followers through self-cultivation and improvement techniques. Confucianism believes that their congregation should have human conduct over the idea of God in their lives, whereas Taoism is formed on the belief that its congregation should create a relationship with nature. This is pointed out by Smith in Experiencing the World’s Religions, “Confucius represents the classical, Lao Tzu the romantic; Confucius stresses social responsibility, Lao Tzu praises spontaneity and naturalness; Confucius focus is on the human, Lao Tzu’s on what transcends the human” (Smith 218).
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.
Herbal products are medicinal agents obtained from the plants. It’s all started 100 years ago by ancient people. Since synthetic medicine are not yet invented by that time, ancient people had invented medicine out of the plants. Through generations the original herbal medicine had been modified due to the new knowledge discovered and technologies invented.
Lao-Tze founded Taoism around 550 BC. The goal in Taoism is achieve Inner harmony, pea...