发布时间 : 星期日 文章Differences between Chinese and Western Medicine更新完毕开始阅读020882ea6137ee06eff91831
Differences between Chinese and Western Medicine
As we know, the Chinese medicine has a quite long history and we Chinese are proud of it. The American medicine just dates back to two hundred years ago but it is also effective. For many years, there have been many studies about the differences between Chinese medicine and the western medicine. There are also repeated discussions to give up Chinese medicine. It’s recently become a hot topic once again. As far as I concerned, we cannot simply compare the two within just one or two perspectives and decide imprudently which one is better or not. Chinese medicine and western medicine treat patients with different theories and methods.
Although it is debatable whether Chinese medicine is scientifically sound, you cannot deny that it has rich significance. It is very different from the Western medicine. Usually a Chinese medicine practitioner approaches the illness from a broader perspective, emphasizing its entirety and dialectical implication. This is why some people view it as holistic medicine. In contrast, a Western doctor deals directly with the symptoms. For instance, if someone has a sore throat, a Western doctor will treat it as a throat, while a Chinese doctor may link it to the disorder of the patient’s stomach.
A Chinese doctor examines his patients by using methods like observing, smelling asking and feeling, his western counterpart relies on
symptoms or evidence like body temperature and lab tests. A Chinese doctor determines the problems of the patients’ internal organs by inference through observing various exterior signs, such as complexion or the tongue. A Western doctor, on the other hand, makes his judgment based on the results of a lab test on the internal organs. He then attests his judgment by examining exterior symptoms. A Western doctor uses chemical-based medicines and surgery, while a Chinese doctor relies in the herbal medicine and acupuncture.
The traditional Chinese healing is a part of Chinese culture. Circular enclosure is the character of Chinese worldview. It means two combining into one. In other words, it requires interdependence and integration. To the Asians, the world is a complex place, composed of continuous substances, understandable in terms of the whole rather in terms of the parts, and subject more to collective than personal control. In Taoism it is recorded \Tao gave birth to the One; the One gave birth successively to two things, three things, up to ten thousand.” “These ten thousand creatures cannot turn their backs to the shade (Yin) without having the sun (Yang) on their bellies, and it is this blending of the breaths (Yin and Yang) that their harmony depends.” These records show one of concepts of Chinese culture - Man and Nature are one.
This concept considers that the chief cause of all disease is a disharmony in the balance between Yin and Yang, or undue
preponderance of one over the other which would cause illness, and in extreme cases, death. Traditional Chinese medicine recognized three fundamental causative factors in disease, namely (1) external agents, including climatic, infectious and contagious ones, which are classified as a Yang factor; (2) internal dysfunctions which are classified as a yin factor; and (3) accidental and traumatic injuries which are considered to be partly yin and partly Yang. Any one of these factors would result in a disharmony in the equilibrium of Yin and Yang or an arrest in their flow. They are created and destroyed, personifying energy and its dissolution; and the effluvia is the result of a disturbance in the balance of these two cosmological forces. The task of the Chinese doctors is to restore the harmony by such means as prescribing herbal medicine, applying surgery, acupuncture, moxibustion massage, breathing exercises, diet and so on. Treatment should aim at the syndrome as a whole rather than at any particular symptom.
The Chinese medicine looks at the body’s system as a whole, while Western medicine concentrates on a particular part or its function. From the worldview of western countries, we can figure out why it is different from Chinese medicine.
In western countries, linear division is the character of western worldview. It means one dividing into two. In other words, it requires independence and opposition. To the European, the world is a relatively
simple place, composed of discrete objects that can be understood with undue reference to context, and highly subject to personal control. It’s a very different world, indeed. Descartes divided the world into extended substance (matter) and thinking substance (mind), and these two have mutually incompatible properties. Accordingly the soul is entirely distinct from the body. In this way the western doctors think that the body works like a machine, with the material properties of extension and motion, and it follows the laws of physics. The mind (or soul) is a nonmaterial entity that does not follow the laws of physics.
For treatments, western medicine requires the reasons of illness. As long as the reasons are found, the result can be reproduced. Western advocates is precisely the totally deterministic, that is, composed entirely from the human body to determine the root causes of human disease, which can be targeted to implement the treatment.
From above, we can see that the major difference between Chinese and Western medicine originates from worldview. Different conditions and histories make different cultures. Different culture has its own worldview and it is reflected in every aspect, medicine included.