Before comparing treatments or outcomes, it helps to understand how each system thinks. TCM and Western medicine start from fundamentally different assumptions about the human body, the nature of illness, and the best path to healing. These articles explore those foundational differences — and the surprising areas of overlap.
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Diagnostic Approaches
Pulse reading and tongue diagnosis versus blood tests and MRI scans — how each system identifies what is wrong.
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Philosophy of Disease
Qi imbalance and yin-yang disharmony versus germ theory and cellular pathology — two models of why we get sick.
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Holistic vs. Reductionist Paradigms
Treating the whole person versus targeting specific mechanisms — the strengths and limits of each paradigm.