Oriental medicine has also gained attraction because of its costs. Traditional Chinese Medicine proves to give the same healing effects as Western medicine but at a lower over all medical price. The website, Soothe, used two articles by different doctors (Stress Solutions, by Marel Norwood, PhD and Vibrational Medicine, by Dr. Richard Gerber, M. D ) to compare the difference between Oriental and Western medical approaches. According to the article, the Oriental view of health involves the body being a with energy that is balanced with the environment while Western perceives this as the non-presence of any pain, sickness or defect.
Oriental medicine describes a disease by seeing a disharmony of the energy of a body towards its environment while Western views look at it as a digression of the body from its perfect state. It can also be taken as a problematic situation of a tissue or body part. Western medicine views this as not an imbalance but a destruction to a physical process that has cause and symptoms or simply a disorder. Symptoms are viewed differently too, TCM views these as signs that the body is trying to cure itself therefore there are underlying problems that need to be balanced.
It is somewhat akin to psychology wherein the person is suppressing something that manifests as a physical problem. Western Medicine thinks of symptoms as a problematic physical situation that either needs to eliminated or controlled. Oriental medicine sees multiple diseases as the result of different factors that are not natural to the individual while Western theorizes that each sickness is caused by an individual problem. TCM believes that there are four stages of a disease.
The first thing that happens is the presence of an energy imbalance that results to the second stage where the body undergoes functional problems that lead to the third step where a chronic illness progresses and becomes a pathological change in the tissues which is the fourth part. Allopathy on the other hand, views the development of a certain sickness as a disorder of form and disorders. These do not involve the functionality into structure. In TCM, a patient is primarily responsible for his health and well being while in Western medicine, a patient’s revelation is doubted in a doctor’s focus on the physical problem.
Therefore, in Oriental medicine, the physicians are paid because the people are kept healthy while in Western medicine, the doctor is paid to fix the problem. Oriental doctors take to heart the different problems that a patient is suffering from. This includes his relationships and certain situations where the patient is getting so much pressure from. However, in Western medicine, doctors do not allow themselves to delve into the personal lives of their patients. They are only there to treat the disease. The key limitation to Oriental medicine is its dependence on the natural state of an individual.
It has not yet taken into account the man-made problems of today such as pollution. Western medicine on the other hand, is ignorant of what the Chinese call energy therefore it cannot base its diagnosis on these. It deduces cures through flaw systems of trial and error so the harm is done before a healing process can be obtained. Oriental medicine takes into account the person as a whole which includes his lifestyle and thoughts therefore it can handle minor problems before they become full blown diseases. Western medicine’s strength is in healing physical defects that are already diseases.
Although both medical approaches make use of herbal based solutions too, the primary belief of Traditional Chinese medicine is that the body knows how to heal itself and the doctors are just there to assist in guiding the patient on how to find balance within himself. Western medicine involves a lot of technology and chemical solutions targeting the body like a machine. This is the end seems to have more potential harm to the patient due to the reactions of the body to different healing processes that involve unnatural substances.
Conclusion With all the articles and reading that one has to go through to understand the differences of Western and Oriental medicine, one cannot help but realize that society has become open to many cultures and that these can be help further find solutions to our current problems. Both Western and Oriental medical approaches are vital in understanding the problem of health nowadays. Traditional Chinese Medicine can go so far as to treat minor health problems and prevent these from happening because of the wholistic approach it takes.
However, we cannot ignore that there are certain diseases that require medical technology to help an individual heal at once.
REFERENCES
Adams, M. (2006) Systems of Medicine Explained. Newstarget. com. Retrieved May 8, 2007 from http://www. newstarget. com/019365. html Bailey, E. , African American Alternative Medicine: Using Alternative Medicine to Prevent and Control Chronic Diseases, Bergin & Garvey, Westport, CT. , 2002 Clarke, J. , Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter between Asian and Western Thought, Routledge, London, 1997