TCM takes a far different approach from the Western medical science when treating a disease.
In the West, medical scientists believe that most diseases are caused by the “bad” bacteria, virus or cell. If these bacteria, virus or cell can be killed, the disease will be cured. So the ultimate goal of medical science is to find a magic medicine that can directly kill the “bad” bacteria, virus or cell.
But TCM has a different thought. A TCM doctor would argue that: Why people live in the same environment (even live in the same house), some of them are infected by the “bad” bacteria or virus, but some of them are not? Obviously, the “bad” bacteria or virus cannot do everything – cannot invade into every human body, they can only invade into a weakened human body. When a human body is weakened or compromised, then a “bad” bacteria or virus gets its chance. So if the balance of the body can be restored, the body will have more strength and energy to fight off invaders, then the disease will be healed.
The difference is that, the Western medical science believes that the environmental factors (bacteria or virus) are the main cause of a disease, while TCM believes that the weakened human body itself is the main cause of a disease.
These different views lead to different approaches of how to treat a disease: the Western medical science tries to find a weapon to directly kill the invaders, while TCM tries to restore the balance of the body and strengthen the body’s ability to fight off the invaders.
The Western medical science believes that if a medicine is really effective, then it must be “repeatable” – effective to everyone who has the same disease. But in a point of view of a TCM doctor, people may have the “same disease” detected by the Western medical technologies, but may have different patterns of the symptoms. These different symptoms indicate the nature, features and conditions of the body. So the treatment for the “same disease” could be different. A formula is effective to treat someone’s disease may not be effective to cure the “same disease” of other people.
This is very interesting that while the politicans, teachers, political science and mainstream media are, all the time, talking about how to recognize and respect people’s differences and needs in social, cultural and political areas, their medical science and doctors are ignoring and paying no attention to people’s differences! They are using the same drugs to treat different individuals who have different body types, health conditions and symptom patterns, just because they want something “repeatable” – doing an easy job – copy and paste the same solution to everyone!
