Clare Stephenson - The Acupuncturist’s Guide to Conventional Medicine

The Acupuncturists Guide to Conventional Medicine

Second Edition

Clare Stephenson

Foreword by Angela Hicks
and John Hicks

Contents

Notices

Disclaimer

Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

With respect to any drugs or pharmaceutical products identified, readers are advised to check the most current information provided (i) on procedures featured or (ii) by the manufacturer of each product to be administered, to verify the recommended dose or formula, the method and duration of administration, and contraindications. It is the responsibility of practitioners, relying on their own experience and knowledge of their patients, to make diagnoses, to determine dosages and the best treatment for each individual patient, and to take all appropriate safety precautions.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

Online material

The online material supporting this text can be downloaded at www.jkp.com/voucher using the code STEPHENSONACU.

It includes:

Full-color illustrations from the book.

Self-assessment questions and answers. These self-assessment questions are designed to support home study of the text. The student is advised to write down answers to each question as they progress through the study of a section. The written answers can then be compared with the model answers, which are also to be found online.

End of section self-assessment tests. These are designed to help the student review their learning after completion of each of the sections that make up each chapter.

Foreword

The College of Integrated Chinese Medicine brings together two styles of Chinese medicine. We had not thought, however, of bringing together Chinese and Western medicine. Until, that is, Clare Stephenson joined the teaching staff. She saw the potential for something different.

As both a Western doctor and a practitioner of Chinese medicine, Clare immediately recognized the huge areas of similarity, as well as differences, between these two systems of medicine. She graduated from the College, and subsequently became the program leader for conventional medicine. This started her on the path of writing what was later to become this textbook.

From the moment we saw the first texts for the study course, it became clear that she was writing something very special, unique even. The students agreed. Their evaluations sang the praises of the course. Staff who had not done the course clamored for the text. They had recognized its potential for deepening their learning and as a reference tool.

It soon became obvious to us that this should and would become a textbook at some stage. It took over five years for Clare to fully complete what was then an in-depth study course for our students. We are now delighted that, from its first conception as a course at the College, through its extensive development, it was born as a book in 2011 and now, in 2017, is in its second edition.

Before this book the only in-depth texts available were those written for Western medicine practitioners such as doctors, nurses and physiotherapists. Clares innovative vision for Chinese medicine practitioners was to enable them to learn Western medicine but from their own perspective.

Chinese medicine and Western medicine are two substantial yet very different medical models. Chinese medicine practitioners can often search for connections and relationships between the two models but find more differences than similarities. This book bridges that gap and brings the two closer. This enables practitioners of both medical models to understand how the other thinks.

In this textbook Clare takes complementary practitioners through the basics of Western physiology and pathology, and compares and contrasts it with the underlying theory of Chinese medicine. It helps Chinese medicine practitioners to understand the workings of the mind of a conventional doctor: how they question patients, what tests they might carry out, how the results might be interpreted, as well as possible Western treatments and their effects.

Throughout the text each subject is discussed not only from the Western but also from the Chinese medical perspective. For instance, Clare examines holistic versus reductionist theories, she summarizes the underlying philosophy of both medical models and also explains medications both in Western terms and in terms of their Chinese energetic effects. On top of this, and perhaps most striking, is how she thoughtfully considers each Western disease and compares it to a possible Chinese medicine diagnosis.

For a holistic practitioner, comparing diseases from these two perspectives might be seen as slightly risky. We might worry that it could encourage practitioners to treat only what in Chinese medicine terms is called the Biao , or outward manifestation, rather than the Ben , or root cause of the problem. Clares rich understanding prevents this from happening. Whilst remembering that this is primarily a conventional medicine textbook, she comments on Chinese medicine differentiations of disease, without being too prescriptive. This gives practitioners useful insights but doesnt narrow their holistic point of view.

Each part of this clear text is complemented by online learning-points, self-tests and case histories as well as numerous additional comments and comparisons between Western and complementary medicine.

This book will be of use not only to students of Chinese medicine but also to practitioners of all complementary therapies as an in-depth step-by-step study course with timed and specified sections of study. Equally it is extremely useful to qualified practitioners as a reference book. Although this book was not written for Western practitioners, those who read it with an open mind might also find it arouses their interest. The discussion about the Chinese medicine approach might resonate with their experience of patients.

This book is immensely dense and at the same time exceedingly readable. It will be hard for another textbook to match it in its breadth and depth. We have no doubt that it will soon be a standard text for Chinese and other complementary medicine students as well as a standard reference for practitioners. It has so much embedded in the text that the reader might find, as we did, valuable gems popping out at every visit. It has left us more interested in, as well as much more informed about, Western medicine, whilst remaining proud of our own Chinese medicine.

Angela Hicks and John Hicks
Principals, College of Integrated Chinese Medicine, Reading,
Berkshire, UK, September 2010. Updated in 2017.

Introduction

This textbook has been developed to enable students and practitioners of complementary health disciplines, and acupuncturists in particular, to understand more about the Western medical model of healthcare. It is intended to enable a recognition of how the Western medical approach to interpreting and managing disease can be stood alongside, and to some degree translated, into the terms of a more holistic model, namely, that of Chinese medicine. The ultimate aim is that interactions with patients in the clinic will be enriched by helping both acupuncturist and patient make sense of how the patients experiences of Western medicine might relate to the treatments they are being offered in the acupuncture clinic. This will have the added benefit of enabling patients to make safe and positive healthcare choices based on this understanding.