Why Chinese medicine students must come together

I want to preface this article with the caveat that I only know about American CM practitioners and that much of what I have to say could be limited to that demographic. But, perhaps there is a more global appeal. One of the things that shocked me when I entered this profession as a student to find widespread disorganization at both student and professional levels. At my school, it’s exceedingly difficult to get anyone interested in organizing for the purposes of setting a course for the future or acting on issues before they become problems. Getting people motivated to fix something that is already broken is somewhat easier. I understand that people are busy, that as students we have to do a lot of lifestyle triage to maintain sanity.

However, I also know that the future of this profession lies with us - with the students. We are at a critical juncture in human history. We are at a critical junction in the development of health care - I need only mention the recent rash of documentary style movies about various health crises (Sicko, anyone?) and you will know what I mean. Out-of-pocket healthcare costs are spiraling out of control, medical mistakes continue to be a leading cause of death in the country and people are choosing “alternative” medical treatments at higher rates every year. The people need a better way and we as current and future CM physicians know a better way.

But acting alone or, at best, in small groups is not the answer. It won’t help us lobby Congress to get better loan options as students, it won’t help us get loan forgiveness, it won’t help us to become licensed in more states, it won’t help us stave off attacks from the FDA and other medical professions. Even on a lower level, being organized is good business sense. When you have a broad and deep network of peers to coordinate with, to build referrals with and to discuss difficult cases with - your acumen as a physician will increase, your patient numbers will increase and your ability to reach the widest number of suffering people will increase.

It does take work, though. It takes sacrificing time. It takes sometimes talking through difficult issues with people you don’t necessarily even like. It takes late night conference calls and marathon committee meeting sessions. It takes being willing to have your mind opened and changed. Sometimes it means eating a little crow.

I want to be part of a healthy, thriving profession that is working as hard as it can to be a solution for the health care crisis facing the United States and much of the world. I want to start working towards that as a student to build a firm foundation for my development as a professional. I want you to join me. Will you?

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: , , , ,

Related posts

July 27, 2007 · Filed Under Learning, The profession

3 Comments 

7 keys to understanding the Classical Chinese Medicine concept of organs

I’d like to piggyback off of the organ clock post and introduce the Chinese medicine theory of organs in a little more depth. It’s important to understand that there is not just one right way to view the body. There is no more validity in viewing it in the Western medicine manner than there is in viewing it in the Chinese medicine manner. Each system (and many others) have taken different features of the human being to be primary, each system has used their own conceptual understanding to render a viable picture of the body and its interactions. Perhaps most importantly, each system uses their vision of the human being to craft effective treatments. It seems that different systems will create different spheres of effectiveness - a topic for a future post. With no further ado, here are seven things you need to know to enhance your understanding of Chinese medicine organ systems.

  1. There are twelve organ systems in Chinese medicine: Heart, Small Intestine, Bladder, Kidney, Pericardium, Triple Burner, Gall Bladder, Liver, Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach and Spleen. The typical convention is to capitalize when we are talking about Chinese organ systems and not to capitalize when we are referring to the anatomical organ known to Western medicine. Another convention is to refer to the in the singular. So, for instance, the Lung organ system includes the Lungs, but we don’t say - for example - The emotion of the Lungs is grief.
  2. They’re not ORGANS. Probably the most important thing to understand is that the Classical Chinese view is not based on materialism. Although the ancient Chinese did investigate the inside of the body and were clearly aware of the physical structures that Western medicine now names “organs” this is not primary for the medicine’s understanding. The organ is included in a larger concept that is often called the “organ system,” which you have already seen me use many times. This organ system includes the physical organ, it’s associated channel(s), the tissues, surfaces, functions and other bodily features associated with that organ and other more rarefied aspects of the system.
  3. The organs work together as a dynamic whole. While each system has specific functions and can be talked about in isolation, the beauty of the Chinese medical view of the body only becomes truly apparent when you focus on the interconnections. No system is complete without seeing its relationship to the rest. This can make it a little confusing to study because our brains seem to find it simpler to focus on one mono-dimensional thing at a time. TCM has largely lost its understanding of the physiological interactions of the organs except where those interactions are extremely simplified.
  4. The organs are a reflection of the macrocosm. This principle relates back to Chinese philosophical understanding of the holographic nature of reality. For a complete review of the holographic worldview, see Michael Talbot’s The Holographic Universe. The basic gist of this philosophy is that the fundamental nature of reality is reflected in its smallest pieces just as much as in its largest. The small reflect the large, and the large reflect the small - they’re both reflecting something much deeper than themselves. In Chinese medicine we study this principle all the time. On one level, each organ is a reflection of all the others - the parts reflect the whole. On another level, the total complex of organs and each organ individually reflect some aspect of nature. For example, the Heart reflects the nature of our Sun and acts as such within the body. Understanding these layers of meaning help us to fully comprehend the human body, and studying the human body through this lens helps us to gain a greater understanding about the Universe. It’s funny like that.
  5. Following from that, then, the organ systems can be understood using natural and governmental symbolism. For me personally, learning about the Chinese concept of the body was much easier once I learned to think about it as an ecosystem or as a country. With the former, I could simply walk in nature in a mindful way and reflect on the various features I found there. IS the Heart like the Sun? What would that mean if it were? How does that bear out in diagnosis? In treatment? I think this practice does its work on more subtle levels as well - it must be why we are constantly urged to spend time in nature as CCM students. Using metaphors about the government helped me a great deal in understanding the functional relationships between organ systems. If the Heart is like the Emperor (or the King, possibly the President) then what relationships should I see between it and the Lung, which is said to be like the Prime Minister (or Presidential Cabinet?).
  6. The organs’ interrelationships are therapeutically useful. Far from being a simple intellectual exercise, understanding the organ systems as networks of interrelationship bears out in treatment. An example: imagine we are looking at some kind of problem that - through the intake process, including tongue and pulse taking - we come to understand as being centered in the Heart organ system. A TCM process of differentiation would then focus on the Heart, most likely, only adding other organ systems in limited circumstances (such as adding Lung if there are breathing difficulties). A more nuanced approach will consider the interrelationships using various systems, such as five-element or six conformation. Using a five element approach, we might wonder whether fire is failing to be generated by wood, or whether it is being over-controlled by water. We would search for symptoms that might suggest this, we would recheck the pulse to see whether we had missed something. There are specific systems to use when doing these investigations, but the key is simply to dive deeply into the physiology in order to comprehend pathology. It will yield excellent treatment.
  7. Even with this complex understanding - the organ systems are not PRIMARY. In a sense, the organ systems are simply a useful way of organizing the overwhelming amount of information we can get from studying the human body. It is a convenient way because it has clear physical correlates. But we must also consider the fluids of the body (Qi, Blood, Jing, Shen, JinYe) as well as any more subtle aspects of the human being. We must also keep in mind that the body is not just a jumble of parts, but a integral functioning whole - when we treat we are not “tonifying the Kidney” but instead having a specific kind of impact on an infinitely complicated system using a particular technique. Maybe that’s splitting hairs, but it seems an important distinction.

There’s a lot more to know - but that’s a good start. Please put any questions or thoughts in the comments!

Eric Grey

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

July 5, 2007 · Filed Under Organ systems, Theory

4 Comments