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What therapeutic principles are used?

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The main therapeutic principles in TCM can be summarized as treating the human body as an organic whole, searching for the primary cause of disease in treatment, and implementing an appropriate treatment with a dynamic viewpoint (meaning that a TCM practitioner must be willing to change treatment as the patient either gets better or worse). Therapeutic methods can be classified as either internal or external treatments, each with specific methods. The goals of therapy are to alleviate symptoms and treat the causes of disease, strengthen the body's resistance to disease and eliminate pathogenic factors, and give priority to disease prevention.

The principles behind treatment are mainly derived from the Eight-Principle patterns discussed earlier. For example, when a condition of excess is apparent in the disharmony, the treatment focuses on reducing the excess and eliminating the factors that brought about the excess in the first place. If a condition of deficiency is apparent in the disharmony, the treatment focuses on tonifying the deficiency to ensure that energy is maintained at a healthy level.

Essential aspects of treatment:

  		• When a deficiency exists, the energy should be tonified;
  		• When an excess exists, the energy should be reduced;
  		• When too much heat is present, it should be expelled or cooled;
  		• When too much cold is present, it should be expelled or warmed;
  		• When dampness is present, it should be expelled;
  		• When phlegm is present, it should be resolved.


    Summary of the eight therapies

    The eight therapies refer to common therapeutic methods that may be employed by trained TCM practitioners. There are many types of other treatment options not listed here. Combined rather than single therapies are often used to treat complex problems.

    Therapeutic Method Description
    Diaphoretic Dispersion and purgation of muscular striae to expel pathogens out of the body surface.
    Emetic Vomiting pathogens or toxic substances from the mouth.
    Purgative Purging stagnation and relaxing the bowels
    Regulating Through the way of mediation or regulation, the somatic functions will be modified to a new conditon, which builds up the body's resistance and eliminates pathogenic factors consequently.
    Warming Eliminating cold evils and replenishing yang-qi.
    Heat-removing Reducing fever, removing fire, reserving fluid, eliminating vexation and quenching thirst
    Tonifying Nourishing and invigorating the qi, blood, yin and yang of the human body.
    Resolving Gradually eliminates the tangible lumps formed by the accumulation and stagnation of qi, blood, phlem, retained food stuff and fluids.

    **Disclaimer:
    All the material presented in this article is meant to serve as a guide for informational purposes only and should not take the place of a consultation from a trained TCM practitioner.

    References

    English:

    1. Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine , edited by Zhang Enqin, Publishing House of Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, c1990
    2. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Lectures on Essentials of TCM VI. - Methods of Diagnosis, 2(4): 321-328, c1982
    3. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Lectures on Essentials of TCM VII. - Methods of Diagnosis, 3(1):67-72, c1983
    4. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Lectures on Essentials of TCM VII. - Methods of Diagnosis, 3(2): 163-168, c 1983
    5. The Complete Illustrated Guide to Chinese Medicine , by Tom William, Element Books Ltd. c1996.
    6. Traditional Chinese Internal Medicine , edited by Tian Delu and Zou Jianhua, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine c1990.
    7. Practical Diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine , by Tietao Deng, Churchill Livingstone, c1999.
    8. Chinese-English Dictionary of TCM , edited by Ou Ming, Joint Publishing (HK) Co., Ltd. c1988.

    Chinese:
    1. 中醫診斷學，北京中醫藥大學主編，學苑出版社，2002。
    2. 中醫診斷學，鄧鐵濤主編，上海科學出版社，2000。
    3. 中醫精髓圖解，湯泰元主編，科學出版社，2000。
    4. 實用中醫舌診手冊(中英文對照)，李峰、宋天彬主編，科學出版社，2002。
    5. 漢英中醫辭典，歐明主編，三聯書店(香港)有限公司，1999。

    Written By：
    Raka Dewan, Integrated Chinese Medicine Holdings Ltd.
    Rose Tse, Integrated Chinese Medicine Holdings Ltd.

    Editors：
    Angela Collingwood MSN, Integrated Chinese Medicine Holdings Ltd.
    Raka Dewan, Integrated Chinese Medicine Holdings Ltd.
    Rose Tse, Integrated Chinese Medicine Holdings Ltd.