| Practical English-Chinese Library: Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine
By Zhang Enqin, Wang Min, Shi Lanhua
Publishing House of Shanghai College of TCM, 1990
Language: English and Chinese
Paperback, 2 volumes
ISBN 7810100890, 7810101056 Traditional Chinese Medicine has many characteristics both in the understanding of the human body's physiology and pathology and in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Its characteristics can be explained and summarized under the two aspects: 1. The concept of the organism as a whole; 2. Diagnosis and treatment based on an overall analysis of signs and symptoms.Traditional Chinese medicine attaches great importance to the unity of the human body itself and its relationship with nature, and holds that the human body itself is an organic whole and has very close and inseparable relations with the external natural surroundings. The concept of emphasizing the unity within the body and the unified relations between the body and the outside world is known as that of an organic whole. In clinical treatment, TCM physicians do not focus their main attention on the similarities and dissimilarities between diseases but on the differences between the syndromes they have. generally speaking, the same syndromes are treated in similar ways, while different syndromes are treated in different ways. Take clod for example, if it manifests itself in more severe chilliness, slight fever, a tongue with thin and white fur then it belongs to the exterior syndrome caused by wind and cold, and should be treated with strong sudorific drugs pungent in taste and warm in property, to dispel the wind and cold; if its manifestations are more severe fever, milder chilliness, a tongue with thin and yellow fur, then it belongs to the exterior syndrome caused by wind and heat, and should be treated with mild diaphoretics pungent in taste and cool in property, to dispel the wind and heat. This is called "treating the same diseases with different methods". Some times, different diseases have same syndromes in nature, so their treatments are basically the same. If clinical analysis and differentiation show that persistent dysentery, propapse of the rectum, uterus and others belong to the syndrome of "sinking of qi" (functional activities of the middle warmer, the middle portion of the body cavity housing the spleen and stomach), then their treating method should be the same one, lifting the qi of the middle warmer. This is called "treating different diseases with the same method." Contents:This book introduces the history of TCM, characteristics, the theory of Yin and Yang as well as Five Elements, the theory of viscera and bowels, the theory of qi, blood and body fluid, the theory of the channels and collaterals, pathogenic factors, pathogenic mechanism, prevention and treatment of diseases. |
