Kurt Fritzsche, Susan H. McDaniel and Michael Wirsching (eds.)Psychosomatic Medicine2014An International Primer for the Primary Care Setting10.1007/978-1-4614-1022-5_4
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
4. Traditional Medicine and Psychosomatic Medicine
(1)
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Hauptstr. 8, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
(2)
Department of Psychiatry, Makerere University College of Health Sciences and Mulago National Referral and Teaching Hospital, Mulago Hill Road, 7072 Kampala, Uganda
(3)
Department of Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, Psychosomatic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Noor Hospital, 5th Fl, Baghbeh Bld., 36th Alley, Tohid St., Shariati St, 48763-81739, 81736-44165 Isfahan, Iran
(4)
Danesh-e Tandorosti Institute, Isfahan, Iran
(5)
Department of bioenergy economy, Energy Medicine University, California, USA
Abstract
The idea of holistic perspective without mind-body splitting has a long tradition in medicine. Four concepts of Traditional Medicine with a holistic claim are presented.
Keywords
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)Psychosomatic aspects of TCMAyurvedic medicineIslamic medicineReligious and spiritual healing in AfricaFolk healingTraditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the oldest healing systems. Most of the principles of TCM derived from the philosophical basis that contributed to the development of Taoism and Confucianism. The goal is that natural phenomena could be categorized into yin and yang. Everything in the universe consisted of five basic elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) and the universe was constantly changing toward dynamic balance or harmony. Such knowledge was applied to understand, prevent, and cure disease .
TCM includes herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion, massage, food therapy, and physical exercise such as shadow boxing). It is estimated that 40 % of health care in China is based on TCM, with a higher proportion in rural areas. Every city has a hospital practicing TCM, and there is a plan for every county to have one. In 95 % of hospitals practicing Western medicine, there are departments of TCM, most with patient beds. When patients arrive at the outpatient department they can opt for Chinese or Western treatment. In Western medicine hospitals, around 40 % of medicines prescribed are traditional. Herbs are used much more commonly then acupuncture (Tang et al. 2008).
Disease occurs after a disturbance in yin-yang, or flow of qi, or blood, or disharmony in the organs caused by personage (e.g., sadness, joy, and lifestyle) and climatic factors (dampness, heat, cold). Treatment aims to expel or suppress the cause and restore balance .
The integration of TCM in Western medicine has been widely promoted and studied in China and in Western countries. Integration aims eventually to combine these two systems. Currently, integration is mainly at the level of physicians who have received training and can treat patients in both. For example, over a third of the training in TCM schools is in Western medicine, and Western-medicine schools also offer some training in TCM.
Research is needed to determine which illnesses are best treated by one approach rather than the other. In China, Western medicine is often regarded as more effective in an acute situation or where the etiology is known, while TCM is more effective for immune conditions, chronic illness, or where the etiology is unknown .
Psychosomatic Aspects in TCM
TCM has a holistic view of body and mind and the acceptance of somatic presentation of emotion is common . This is parallel to modern psychosomatic approaches (Tseng 2001). The heart was thought to house the superior mind, the liver to control spiritual soul, the lungs, the animal soul, the spleen ideas and intelligence, and the kidney vitality and will.
When vital air was concentrated on the heart, joy was created; on the lungs, sorrow; on the liver, anger; on the spleen, worry; on the kidney, fear. Thus, it was considered that various emotions were stirred through the visceral organs. In accordance with this medical knowledge in daily life, many organ-related sayings were used by the common people such as “elevated liver fire,” “loosing spleen spirit,” “hasty heart,” “angry liver,” or “exhausted kidney,” to denote emotional state .
TCM has some advantages in the treatment of psychological and psychosomatic symptoms:
1.
Patients prefer a more holistic view of their illness and do not encourage separation in physical and psychological causes.
2.
Even if patients are aware of the psychosocial stress being an underlying cause of their condition, they rather opt for a more somatically oriented way to describe and treat their symptoms.
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