What is Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)?
Preliminary note: If you are really looking for a definition of TCM and want to learn more about Chinese medicine in general, please check out this page of articles written especially for folks who are new to the world of Chinese medicine and want to learn more.
——
I was just reading over some old journal entries from when Deepest Health began last year. One of the blogging techniques that I was taught by Yaro Starak during the Blog Mastermind training program was creating definition posts. I did use that format to define various things, including Qigong, acupuncture and herbal medicine. However, because I started to get interested in a lot of more complicated things and attracted some fairly sophisticated readers, I moved away from those basic types of posts.
I found a note that I should write a post about TCM - which really got me thinking. There’s a fundamental problem with my blogging purpose. I am interested in getting good information out there about Chinese medicine, it’s practice, power and philosophical foundation. I’ve been putting that information out as I learn it, revising points as I’m able and hoping that my good intentions and transparency will make sure that the good information overcomes the bad.
But, I’m trying to do too many things at once. How so? Well, consider terminology. When most people think about Chinese medicine, they think about acupuncture. This is so much the case that most people simply call all of Chinese medicine “acupuncture,” even some practitioners. One of my mentors even names his business using the word acupuncture and says nothing about herbs. Why does he do this? Because when most people think about contacting a Chinese medicine physician, the word that comes into their mind is “acupuncture.” It just makes good business and marketing sense.
Which, apparently, I don’t have. :) By talking constantly about Classical Chinese Medicine on this blog, I end up missing out on picking up on a lot of folks who are searching for information about this medicine. What do they search for if they are little more savvy? Maybe “Chinese herbs” or even “traditional Chinese medicine,” and if they’re REALLY on it, “TCM.” Those words appear very few times in any of my content. :D So, while I’m sitting here pumping out quality content, fighting the good fight, I’m missing probably half of my intended audience. In some way, I’m hoping to change the language around Chinese medicine. I honestly don’t care if the word “classical” makes it in there - simply calling it Chinese medicine would be fine.
So, if in the coming months and years, you see me using TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine or Acupuncture a little bit more in the way that I write - do forgive me. I’m simply using the common vernacular to try and get the information out to the people who are looking for it.
All that aside, I’m interested to know how terminology plays into your life around Chinese Medicine. If you have a business or work at a school, how is Chinese medicine discussed in your marketing materials? Do you think there is some value in trying to change the language through marketing, or is that just dooming one to failure? Do you find that your patients/students are confused about the language used to describe what we do? Please leave your thoughts in the comments and, as always, thanks for reading.
Eric
If you like what you read here, you may want to keep updated by using my RSS feed. Want to know more about RSS/feeds? - read more here. Thanks for visiting!
Tags: Blogging, Business, ccm, classical-chinese-medicine, language, tcm, traditional-chinese-medicineRelated posts
A quick question about language
My first ever formulas midterm with Arnaud Versluys is fast approaching. Thus, most of my time is devoted to studying for it. Oh, and of course the other midterms between here and there. Last night at my clinic shift, an interesting conversation was started about language and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. One person indicated that they preferred to refer to Chinese herbal medicine as botanical medicine because of negative connotations with the former (the word hippie was bandied about, I’m afraid). Others did not share this opinion. I’ve had other conversations about how to represent the medicine in advertising and conversation with lay people and other healthcare practitioners.
There are legal restrictions on what we as Chinese medicine practitioners can call ourselves - but what language do you use to describe yourself as a practitioner, or what language do you prefer to use when referring to other practitioners? How do you talk about herbalism? Acupuncture? Do you call yourself an acupuncturist even when that isn’t all that you do? Why or why not?
As I begin to build my business strategy and think about how I want to discuss what I will be doing with others - these questions become more and more pertinent. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Eric
Tags: Acupuncture, chinese-herb, chinese-medicine, language, professional-developmentRelated posts
Isn’t Chinese medicine just a bunch of spiritual mumbo-jumbo pseudo-science?
There are quite a few folks who would like to discount Chinese medicine out of hand. These people are unlikely to be convinced of its benefits until Western materialistic methods so thoroughly confirm it that there is no shadow of a doubt. Really, this group of people want to see all concepts of Chinese medicine translated into Western terms - eventually rendering Chinese medicine as just a quaint alternative way to discuss In my opinion, this promised land of verification is unlikely to be achieved. Much of the benefit of Classical Chinese medicine simply cannot be verified by the current commonly accepted forms of study. This is not to say that some level of verification is impossible to achieve - I think some level can and will be achieved. It simply isn’t likely to come from the land of double-blind placebo controlled studies or the realm of extraction, purification and verification of individual chemicals within herbs. No such verification is necessary, as Chinese medicine grows from its own ground and has internally consistent methods of testing and verification that have yielded a medicine that is remarkably safe and effective.
There are other people who, instead of discounting the medicine out of hand, simply want to strip it of all of the elements that seem to conflict with the findings of materialism. This is what Mao and Co. did when they took the diverse and interrelated parts of ancient Chinese medicine, sanitized them and gave birth to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This is what many people continue to do. The argument is that discussions of Spirit, demons, elementals and possession are superstition, while Qi and Blood are medicine. To make Chinese medicine relevant, they say, we need to purge it of all of that silly nonsense and retain that which is more reasonable.
To be sure, there are things that should be included in the official canon of Chinese medicine and there are things that should not be included. But to purge things simply because they relate to non-material aspects of being or involve language that some people are uncomfortable with is irresponsible. We need to understand what these things mean, interpret them within their ancient context and understand their relevance. It may be that we find different language is more appropriate for our contemporary context to describe some of these concepts - or it may be simply that we need to discard our prejudice and embrace more complex medical terminology.
Let’s take one concrete example - the concept of Shen 神, often translated as Spirit. Shen is said to be the domain of the Heart, it is also said to be the light of consciousness, the animating principle. It is present in every part of the body, carried in the blood, but it is uniquely carried in the Heart. The primary pathology involving Shen, “Shen Disturbance” is often likened to various forms of mental illness. To illustrate, in the Neijing, Qi Bo says, “神 有 餘 則 笑 不休 ， 神 不 足 則 悲” which can be translated as “When Shen is in an excess state, one has hysteria or mania. When Shen is in a deficient state, one has depression or profound sadness.” Here we can see the emotional dimensions of the Shen. It would be tempting to leave it at that, but elsewhere in the Neijing and other texts we find many different functions and concepts attributed to the Shen. Some of these functions and concepts do relate more to “spiritual” matters as they are seen in many Western cultures. Shen includes all of these things.
I think it is this multifaceted nature of Chinese medical terminology that puts people off of it and compels them to demand that it be as monodimensional as other forms of medicine. Because many terms cannot be easily defined or put in a one-to-one relationship with easily recognized Western medical concepts, people simply dismiss it. However, it is this complexity that make the medicine so powerful. If we take the time to study these concepts, to understand them intellectually as well as experientially we can understand a complex disease like clinical depression much better. I have used this approach trying to understand my own medical problems and have found it to be very helpful in finding new treatment directions.
Eric
Tags: clinic, disease, herbs, language, materialism, nature, neijing, Science, study, tea, traditional-chinese-medicineRelated posts
-
-
What am I up to?
-
Subscribe to Deepest Health
