Written by Mike Berkley, L.Ac., FABORM Although health and healing are the common goals of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and allopathic medicine, their ideas on the etiology of disease, disease itself and the process used to regain health are decidedly different. The allopathic physician learns that disease must be cured by prescribing medicine, which kills bacteria or renders a virus ineffective; at times surgical intervention is a necessity. Though the goal of TCM is to cure a patient, the practitioner of TCM attempts to do this not by treating the disease but rather by treating the whole person, taking into account the various attributes of an individual which, when combined, account for an individual being sick or healthy. A person, according to the tenets of TCM is more than their pathology. While treating the pathology may yield impressive results, they are commonly temporary. A person is not, according to TCM, represented solely by his or her illness, bu...
Oriental Medicine not only identifies and treats illness and prevents disease but, just as importantly, optimizes health, wellbeing, and sustainability in our lives and in our world.