For our eBook Thai Healing Arts Reference we’ve explicitly chosen “Thai Healing Arts” as part of the title, because although tempted to use “Thai Traditional Medicine,” the latter would not do justice to the broad variety of traditional healthcare concepts and treatment modalities one can find in Thailand.
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Throughout the centuries, the Thai Healing Arts came about as a blend of indigenous Thai (T’ai), Indian, Chinese, Arab, Khmer, Mon, Hill Tribe, and Western influences, and what today is officially defined as “Thai Traditional Medicine” is certainly important, but actually just a part of a much greater whole.
In fact, Thai Indigenous Medicine, Thai Alternative Medicine, Thai Spirit Medicine, Thai Buddhist Medicine, and Thai Astrology and Divination likewise play a significant role in Thai traditional healthcare practices.
In addition, there’s more often than not no clear-cut distinction between the different areas, meaning that the one has often borrowed from the other and vice versa, making it at times somewhat arbitrary to classify a certain treatment modality in just one of the abovementioned realms.
Nevertheless, one of the core features of the Thai Healing Arts as a whole is its holistic approach. It means that practitioners don’t only look at the actual health complaint (the symptoms) but also take into account that the “real” issue can have a totally other cause than the symptoms may let us believe.
Moreover, a human being is seen as an interconnection of body, spirit, mind, emotion, and energy, and all these aspects are considered to be interrelated and to influence each other.
Many aspects are taken into account when assessing or diagnosing a patient: the environment, the season, climate, geography, social life, astrology, age, diet, lifestyle, excesses and deficiencies, and the patient’s Dominant Body Element, to name just a few of the relevant topics.
A physical or mental ailment, discomfort, or disease is therefore seen as an imbalance of the interconnected parts. To cure disease and restore health, the cause of this imbalance must be addressed (diagnosed), and body and mind are brought back into balance with one or more treatment types, exercises, or change of attitudes (lifestyle).
At any rate, in the book we’ve tried to stay true to the multi-dimensional make-up of the Thai Healing Arts by describing as much as possible all the different domains, the most important concepts and treatment modalities, accompanied with a contextual section at the end of the book to shed more light on historical, cultural, and social aspects.
