Transcript Slide 1

Communication and
Integration
96% of LAc’s
And
 100% of MD’s
and
Hospital Administrators
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Report that Communication is the #1 topic of
significance in order to advance integration
▪ National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Healthcare (see
attached document)
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Cultural cognition
School’s failure to communicate “coherent
vision of Chinese medicine and an infinitely
reproducible, step-by-step methodology
for its practice.” (Flaws, Problems Making
CM work in the West, Blue Poppy Blog)
The Myth of ‘Body, Mind, Spirit’ in TCM
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TCM bears a bias of subjectivity in the form of
reliance upon the patient’s lived experience of
illness
 This is a wonderfully empowering bias in regard to
the treatment of chronic disease – which
inevitably involves subjective aspects of illness
(i.e. lifestyle)
 It is a disaster for Western model of research
which treats disease (as opposed to patterns) and
maintains a bias of ‘objectivity’
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“Even a superficial acquaintance with Eastern
thought is sufficient to show that a
fundamental difference divides East and
West. The East bases itself on psychic reality,
that is, upon the psyche as the main unique
condition of existence . . . It is a typically
introverted point of view, contrasted with the
typically extroverted point of view of the
West.” (ibid)
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“The prominence of the subjective factor
does not imply a personal subjectivism,
despite the readiness of the extraverted
attitude to dismiss the subjective factor as
“nothing but” subjective.”
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“The psyche and its structure are real
enough. They even transform material
objects into psychic images . . . They do not
perceive waves, but sound; not wave-lengths,
but colours. Existence is as we see and
understand it.”
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“As a result of their fundamentally different
perspectives on reality . . . emphasis on
functional and organic factors in the one
case, and retrospective analysis of past
events (with) emphasis on somatic and
material factors on the other – Chinese and
Western medicine can make their
observations and then present us with two
different ‘versions’ of the same
phenomenon.” (Porkert, Chinese Medicine)
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“Ideas must be transmitted by the head, and,
of necessity will undergo change. Where
could a foreign idea be accepted, assimilated
or transmitted without being influenced by
the particular situation it meets . . . And by
the preconditioned patterns of thought
cherished by the final receiver?” (Unschuld, p.
55)
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“Modern science and technology require an
absorption of the thought processes which
accompany them.” (Huntington, p. 73)
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“Concern for historical accuracy and
theoretical orthodoxy weren’t part of the
zeitgeist (of those who first brought TCM to
the West).” (Flaws, Body, Mind, Spirit – Also
Not, Blue Poppy Blog)
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“With us . . . The grace of God is everything;
but in the East, man is God and he redeems
himself.” (Jung, Eastern and Western
Thinking)
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"Measurement! It is the very foundation of
the modern scientific method, the means by
which the material world is admitted into
existence. Unless we can measure
something, science won't concede it exists,
which is why science refuses to deal with such
"non-things" as the emotions, the mind, the
soul or the spirit.“ (Pert p.21)
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What do MD’s despise?
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Lack of Methodology!
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It is not that most really cannot acknowledge
there are other systems of healing
It is lack of rigor that they cannot stomach
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Gather Facts (clarify facts) = questioning,
tongue and pulse - Reframe patient's Western
disease into corresponding TCM diseases by
focusing on the clinical signs and symptoms
Differentiate (hypothesize) patterns - Pattern
discriminate each TCM disease(s),
considering patient's sex, age, body-type,
and any common disease mechanisms
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Hypothesize disease cause / disease
mechanism - Question and examine to
confirm or deny your working hypotheses.
State treatment principle / treatment plan When you have identified the presenting
patterns, state the treatment principles for
those patterns in the same order.
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What are the most common patterns in
chronic disease?
In stress, anxiety, depression?
Pain?
Specific Western medical diseases (i.e. named
diseases)
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Multiple Sclerosis
Clinical Signs and Symptoms
 Unilateral numbness, weakness of limbs,
decreased libido, shao yin body-type, difficulty
walking, cold feet and general cold; menses scant
and irregular; muzzy head and general lethargy
 red, slightly peeled tongue, hammer shaped and
swollen and red on the edges;
 pulse: fine, forceless and bowstring
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Patient was diagnosed with lesion in the
cervical spine six months prior to visit and is
still suffering symptoms
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Decreased libido, cold feet and general cold,
as well as lack of strength indicate spleen qi
and kidney yang vacuity
Numbness and shao yin body indicate vacuity
of blood and yin
Hammer tongue, peeled and red along with
muzzy head indicate evil heat consuming yin
fluids as well as phlegm obstruction in the
upper jiao
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Fine, forceless confirms vacuity of qi and yin
Bowstring indicates lack of free-flow
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Former heaven insufficiency, over-exercise
(taxation), habitual bodily vacuity
Spleen qi vacuity with marked liver
depression, depressive heat has consumed
yin and damaged blood
Qi vacuity has now given rise to yang vacuity
and aging and heat have all contributed to yin
and blood vacuity
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Spleen qi, kidney yin and yang dual vacuity
with liver blood vacuity and phlegm heat
obstructing and harassing above
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Supplement the spleen and boost qi and
yang, nourish yin and supplement the blood,
clear heat and transform phlegm
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Acupuncture and moxabustion:
 He gu, tai chong, feng long, yang ling quan, zhao
hai, tian shu, zhang men, liang men
 Moxa at: qi hai, guan yuan ming men, shen shu
 Pick 4-6 (do not over treat with needles!!)
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Shi Quan Da Bu Tang with Xiao Chai Hu Tang
he Si Wu Tang
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Qi – is not electricity (bioelectricity)
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Energy? Don’t even go there!
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See Robert Becker’s explanation of the
‘current of injury’ in Body Electric
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Every question is an opportunity to teach
Knowing holistic metaphors and TCM
methodology are pre-requisites for
speaking to MD’s
Qi is function – i.e. when speaking of qi,
refer to aspects of function
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Functional medicine is personalized
medicine that deals with primary prevention
and underlying causes instead of symptoms
for serious chronic disease. It is a sciencebased field of health care that is grounded in
the following principles:
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Biochemical individuality
Patient-centered Dynamic balance of
internal and external factors
Web-like interconnections of physiological
factors – an abundance of research now
supports the view that the human body
functions as an orchestrated network of
interconnected systems
 Health as a positive vitality – not merely the
absence of disease.
 Promotion of organ reserve as the means to
enhance health span
 Functional medicine emphasizes . . .
functionality at many levels . . . rather than a
single treatment for a single diagnosis.
Functional medicine uses the patient’s story
as a key tool for integrating diagnosis, signs
and symptoms
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Liver/gallbladder = sympathetic nervous
system
 This approach is fraught with opportunities for
trapping oneself into a pissing contest
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No Placebo – no dice
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General mistrust of studies from outside the
U.S.
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“Dismissing the effect of faith on one’s
physical well-being as merely a placebo effect
misses the existential truth central to our
being – that Mind is preeminent.” (Flaws,
Blue Poppy Essays 1988, p. 307)
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Seek research done via pattern discrimination
for use in presentation or circulation among
MD’s
It may (will) require explanation, but if you
are competent, you will find opportunities to
teach conventional folks about TCM
methodology and metaphors
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Take control of the game by learning to teach
If you do not know TCM pattern
discrimination and the metaphors of holism
COLD, you are not ready to speak to MD’s
Be (extremely) clear about methodology
Treat questions as non-questions and use
them as opportunities to teach
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Blue Poppy Blog
 Teaching Chinese Medicine to Lay People
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Body Electric. Robert Becker and Gary Selden
Eastern and Western Thinking. Carl Jung
Medicine in China, A History of Ideas. Paul
Unschuld
Chinese Medicine. Manfred Porkert
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A Master’s Class in Chinese Medical Diagnosis
– Blue Poppy Distance Learning
The Treatment of Disease in Chinese
Medicine (7 volumes). Philippe Sionneau
TCMLARS – for research
Blue Poppy Research Reports (online and CD)
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The Power of Context: reconceptualizing the
placebo effect. Franklin G. Miller, Ted J.
Kaptchuck
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Thomas Kuhn
Statements of Fact in Chinese Medicine. Blue
Poppy
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Barefoot Medicine Training
 www.BarefootMedicineTraining.com
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Functional Medicine University
(http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/)
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Fundamentals of Holistic Chinese Medicine:
Statements of Fact
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http://www.barefootmedicinetraining.com/massage.html
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Presentation Communication and Teacher Training
Skills
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http://www.barefootmedicinetraining.com/tcm.html
 These are the first and only courses which teach TCM folks
how to present to and communicate with Western MD’s