Traditional Thai Medicine Today & in the Future

In recent years, holistic treatments for mind, body, and energy have slowly begun to gain acceptance by the Western world. While Western medicine still emphasizes body treatments such as prescription drugs, surgery, and so on, alternative or complementary therapies have lately gained much respect in the eyes of the public, and even are begrudgingly accepted in some medical circles. Techniques such as acupuncture and massage have become part of the modern hospital setting in many places, often even being covered under insurance plans.

Countries such as China, Japan, and a few European nations currently lead the way in the integration of modern and traditional practices. In modern Thailand, likewise, the state-of-the-art hospitals and the ancient traditions exist side by side in harmony. Most modern urban and rural Thais utilize the arts of massage, herbal healing, and spiritual healing in addition to modern medical technology from the West. The government of Thailand, in fact, is one of the biggest supporters of this blend of traditional and modern healing. In rural areas that remain far from Western hospitals, government-operated herbal clinics dispense tried and true traditional remedies alongside allopathic drugs with the support and blessing of the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

As East and West each become more familiar with the wisdom of the other, it is natural that the best of the ancient and the modern will come together in a new synthesis. It is the challenge of the modern era to create a new model of medicine, and this model will begin with a deeper understanding of the human as not merely a physical entity, but a complex interwoven system of body, mind and energy.

Herbal medicines are often thought to lack the effectiveness of over-the-counter and prescription allopathic medications, and are sometimes considered to be mere placebos. In fact, natural substances form the basis of many of today's synthetic drugs, including as aspirin, painkillers, and antibiotics. Many herbal medicines contain the same active ingredients as their allopathic counterparts, and can be just as effective.

Herbal remedies may not have the immediate effect of Western drugs in treating acute disease or discomfort, but this is because they tend to work on the body as a whole than on any specific group of symptoms. Because the impact of any particular herb on the body is ameliorated by that herb's natural bland of complementary alkaloids, herbal medicines have a subtler effect on the system. One who is desensitized to these subtle effects due to years of use of pharmaceuticals, alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine may not initially notice the impact of herbs. However, through persistent use of herbal remedies, generally improving the diet, exercising, meditating, and living in harmony with the body and with nature, one will soon find that the benefits of herbs are not only noticeable, but indispensable!