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2018 Eunoia

Ga-yeon Kim

These days in Korea, medicine is largely divided into Western
medicine and Korean medicine. Korean medicine is traditional
medicine developed in Korea. Let me introduce and compare these
two medicinal styles.

Korean medicine and Western medicine have many differences
because they developed in different regions. The first difference
is that the perspectives of considering diseases are different.
This difference of perspective comes from the fact that Western
medicine is interested in the cause of the disease while Korean
medicine is interested in the type of the disease. For example, if a
patient who has a headache goes to a Western medicine hospital,
a doctor asks the cause of that headache. If there is no special
cause, he diagnoses3) it a migraine4) or a tension headache5) and
starts treatment. However, in a traditional Korean medicine hospital,
doctors ask inquisitively6) if the patient has indigestion, feels sick
to his or her stomach7), or where the head pain is located. That is,
Korean medicine tends to pursue what is holistic8), experienced,
and most appropriate for the individual and starts from “why.” However, Western medicine focuses on
analytical, experimental, accurate data, and emphasizes the realistic “How”.

Not only the perspective but also the way of treatment is different. Western hospitals heal the
symptom based on analytical scientific knowledge. For instance, they use direct remedies9) such as
prescribing a fever reducer10) when the patient has a fever or removing the pain. Korean medicine heals
after considering the symptoms as a process of the body responding to a change of outside stimulation.
For example, they consider the cause of a fever to be a cold body producing heat in response to a
spontaneous reaction11) and thus give hot food and medicine. Korean medicine does root-treatment
considering the harmony of the internal organs12) in a perspective of mind/body relations.

In conclusion, Western and Eastern hospitals have a lot of differences. However, the doctor's want to
heal the patient will always be the same. It is important for patients to understand the different views of
Western and Korean medicine. No one can say which is better. It is all about finding a therapy and choosing
what is appropriate. Maybe someday these two fields will find harmonious methods.

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1) syringe 주사기 7) feel sick to one’s stomach 메슥거리다
2) acupuncture 침 8) holistic 총괄적인
3) diagnose 진단하다 9) remedy 치료법
4) migraine 편두통 10) fecer reducer 해열제
5) tension headache 긴장성두통 11) spontaneous reaction 자생반작용
6) ask inquisitively 꼬치꼬치 캐묻다 12) internal organs 오장육부

21MYEONG-SHIN GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL