Analyzing Traditional Concepts of Health and Treatment Approaches

This essay delves into traditional concepts of health and treatment, contrasting personalistic and naturalistic theories of illness. It explores Ayurvedic medicine's focus on equilibrium between humors (gall, wind, and mucus), Traditional Chinese Medicine's emphasis on balancing yin and yang energies through practices like herbal medicine and acupuncture, and early European ideas of Hippocrates relating health to the balance of four bodily humors. The essay highlights the enduring relevance of these traditional approaches alongside modern biomedicine, referencing specific examples like herbal and dietary supplements and the use of Galanthamine from Galanthus flowers in treating Alzheimer’s disease. It also highlights the importance of understanding the interplay between internal and external environments in maintaining health, as emphasized in both Chinese and Ayurvedic traditions.

Running head: TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND TREATMENT
TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND TREATMENT
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Author’s note

1TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND TREATMENT
TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND TREATMENT
Theories of health and illness deal with concepts that individuals use to explain how to
maintain a healthy state and why people become ill. Anthropologists have often divided the
theories of illness into two broad types namely, the personalistic type and the naturalistic type
(Porter 1999). In the personalistic type, illness is found to be caused by the involvement of a
sensate agent, who can be a supernatural human being with special powers. On the other hand, in
the naturalistic concept, illness results when a body fails to keep in equilibrium with the natural
environment. Both the personalistic concept, as well as the naturalistic concept, cater to the
traditional way of healing (Cartwright 1977).
According to Aggleton, traditional concepts of health and illness can be assimilated in to
a number of perspectives, such as, the Chinese medicine, the Ayurvedic medicine and the
European traditional medicine (Aggleton 1990).
As described by Aggleton and other ancient Indian literary sources, the writings in the rig
veda can be considered as the highest truth of wisdom. Rig Veda contains an enormous
knowledge about the science of physiology and Ayurveda medicine, which is widely practiced
throughout the Indian subcontinent (Aggleton 1990). According to ayurvedic thoughts, health
pertains to an equilibrium between the three main humours: gall (pitta), wind (vayu) and mucus
(kapha). When the equilibrium is disturbed, illness occurs (Aggleton 1990). For example, the
herbal and dietary supplements are considered as complementary products for individuals.
Botanicals are sold in fresh or dries forms that are rich in vitamins, minerals or amino acids.
There are functional foods having physiological benefits that reduce the risk of chronic diseases,
functional beverages such as fortified juices (Howes and Houghton 2003).

2TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND TREATMENT
Traditional Chinese explanation to health also describes the relationship between the
internal and the external environment of the body. According to Chinese traditional alternative
therapy, there is a continuous interface and barter of energy between the environment and an
individual, and most of these interactions follow a rhythmical pattern just like the natural cycle
of seasons, sun and moon. These help to maintain equilibrium between the two counteracting
energies of the body, yin and yang (Aggleton 1990). The origin of this concepts are I Ching or
book of changes, the yellow emperor's classic of internal medicine, Materia Medica of Shenung.
The example of traditional Chinese medicine includes usages of various herbal medicines, acu-
puncture and tai-chi, for preventing health and illness (Aggleton 1990).
According to the early European explanation, such as, ideas of Hippocrates, health is
obtained by the balance between the four basic humours of the body, namely, yellow bile,
phlegm, blood and black bile (Cartwright 1977). Later on, the four humours of the body were
allegedly linked with four types of personalities such as the phlegmatic, the sanguine, the
choleric and the melancholic. Surplus of any of these humours lead to illness. Flowers of
Galanthus contain Galanthamine that acts as an important source of anti-AChE agents
(acetylcholine inhibitors), which find its wide spread implication in the treatment of Alzheimer’s
disease and other forms of dementia (Howes and Houghton 2003). Access to biomedicine has
long been reduced as the traditional approach of treatment. Nevertheless, besides the allopathic
medications, the role of the traditional medicines cannot be overlooked.

3TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND TREATMENT
References
Aggleton. P. 1990. Health. 1st ed. New York: Routledge, London and New York, pp. 51-129.
Cartwright, F.F., 1977. A social history of medicine, 1st edn, pp. 123-145, Themes in British
Social History, London.
Howes, M.J.R. and Houghton, P.J., 2003. Plants used in Chinese and Indian traditional medicine
for improvement of memory and cognitive function. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior,
75(3), pp.513-527.
Porter, R., 1999. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity (The Norton
History of Science). WW Norton & Company.