Chapter 5 The clinical characteristics of the third section "Syndrome Differentiation and Treatment"

"Syndrome differentiation and treatment" is the whole process of understanding and solving diseases in TCM. "Syndrome differentiation" means that doctors analyze and judge the relevant disease phenomena and signs collected by the four clinics of looking, smelling, asking, and cutting, and judge them as "syndrome" of a certain nature; Corresponding treatments and prescriptions.This clinical feature mainly focuses on the "syndrome", that is, the essence of the disease, to understand and solve the disease. Therefore, "syndrome with the same treatment is the same; syndrome with different treatment is also different", which is the essence of "syndrome differentiation and treatment".

TCM syndrome differentiation is based on the "Huangdi Neijing", and Zhang Zhongjing wrote "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which made syndrome differentiation and treatment concrete, and put forward the law of syndrome differentiation based on the six meridians for exogenous febrile diseases.The treatment of miscellaneous diseases in his book starts with syndrome differentiation of viscera.In Jin Dynasty, Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, with the development of pharmacology, the level of theory and treatment was further improved in medical practice.In the Song, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, medical schools sprang up, and dialectics developed in depth accordingly.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, clinical medicine developed, and TCM syndrome differentiation made breakthrough progress.Lou Ying's "Compendium of Medicine" in the Ming Dynasty pioneered the steps of syndrome differentiation and treatment. He proposed: "First distinguish the divisions of qi and blood, exterior and interior, upper and lower, and viscera, so as to know where the disease is located, and then observe the deficiency, excess, cold and heat of the disease to treat it. "Sun Yikui pointed out in "Chishui Xuanzhu": "Every syndrome, regardless of size or severity, has the eight characters of cold, heat, deficiency, excess, exterior, interior, qi, and blood." There is a special chapter on "Differentiation of Yin and Yang from Exterior and Exterior to Excess and Excess of Cold and Heat", which is the "Eight Principles of Syndrome Differentiation System" that no Chinese medicine scholar has different meanings.With the rise of febrile disease schools in the Qing Dynasty, Ye Tianshi created "Wei Qi Ying Xue Syndrome Differentiation" and Wu Jutong established "Sanjiao Syndrome Differentiation" to respond to the treatment of febrile diseases, further enriching the content of syndrome differentiation and treatment.The above syndrome differentiation methods have been guiding clinical medicine.The idea of ​​syndrome differentiation and treatment is just one of the important characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine.

This situation can often be seen clinically. Patients with the same headache often use completely different treatment methods and prescriptions after being examined by traditional Chinese medicine.This is because the "syndrome" is different, and there may be different syndromes such as exogenous pathogenic factors, anger, blood deficiency, and phlegm obstruction.Furthermore, although the patients have different complaints, they can be given the same or similar prescriptions if the syndromes are the same after diagnosis and analysis.The former is called "same disease with different treatment"; the latter is called "different disease with same treatment".Syndrome is a high-level summary of the etiology, location, and nature of a disease after the doctor collects information through the four examinations of observation, smell, questioning, and palpation.Therapeutics are the treatment principles stipulated according to the universal law of the disease. The content includes preventing the disease, adapting measures to the time, place and individual conditions, seeking the root of the disease, prioritizing the specimen, strengthening the body and eliminating pathogens, adjusting yin and yang, etc.Treatment methods are specific treatment methods established for syndromes. Due to the variety of syndromes, treatment methods are naturally too numerous to enumerate.For example, for "stagnation of liver depression and qi stagnation", the "law of soothing the liver and regulating qi" should be established to treat it, and the prescription should be selected accordingly.