Two polar perspectives in comparison
Imbalance of the four bodily elements and defectiveness of functional bodily systems accumulated intoxication and caused illness. Here is a comparative presentation of the two perspectives.
Thai traditional medicinebased on beliefs and observation |
Modern medicine based on scientific principles |
Activities induced diseases |
Activities induced diseases |
Internal factors: Each person has different compositions of the four elements |
Internal factors: Each person has different genetic characters. |
External factors: Changing of the environment and climate |
External factors: Changing of the environment and climate, together with pollutions and radiation, e.g., ultraviolet |
Inappropriate behavior: unbalanced ingestion, irrelevant to That-chao-rueang |
inappropriate behavior: |
Emotion: Uncontrolled of fire element |
Emotion: Uncontrolled of stress |
Results: Autotoxins (bodily built toxins) from incomplete digestion and above reasons |
Results: Free radicals (bodily built toxins) from cellular oxidation and above reasons |
Autotoxins: Accumulated and led to mild illness such as headache, stomach ache. |
Free radicals: Accumulated, affected to DNA and the white blood cells of the immune system, and led to mild illness. |
Different approaches to illness and treatment, both concepts concerned that 'without careful awareness for health, illness can occur; with proper healthcare, illness can be prevented.' Therefore, both approaches, can be combined and adapted for the healthcare benefit and illness treatment.