Chinese Herbs

Since the emperor Shen Nong tasted 100 herbs and taught the Chinese people how to use them in diet and therapy, herbal medicine has been an integral part of Chinese culture and medical practice. Descriptions of herbal therapy occur in the earliest texts that discuss Chinese medical practice. The traditional Chinese medicine includes minerals and animal parts, as well as herbs. Later medicine represented expanded inquiries into the range of pharmacologically active substances available to the Chinese.

In the 1977 Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Substances, 5,767 substances are identified as part of the traditional materiamedica. The huge number of substances listed is a result of extensive research into the traditional folk applications of substances in different parts of rural China. A typical practitioner may routinely use between 200 and 600 substances.

Chinese herbalism is one of the most prevalent of the ancient herbal traditions currently practiced. It is based on concepts of Yin and Yang and of Qi energy. Chinese herbs are ascribed qualities such as "cooling" (Yin) or "stimulating" (Yang) and are used, often in combination, according to the deficiencies or excesses of these qualities in the patient.

• Chinese patients base their decisions about using herbal medicines onfamily traditions, professional and quasi-professional recommendations, andself-medication
• Because Chinese medicine does not separate mind and body, no herbs arespecified for use in patients with psychiatric conditions
• Practitioners of Chinese medicine do prescribe herbs for physical symptomsthat Western physicians would consider as linked to a psychiatric illness
• The main concerns about the use of herbal medicine are adulteration ofherbs with pharmaceuticals, adverse effects of the herbs themselves, andpossible herb-drug interactions
• When asking patients about their use of herbs, open-ended inquiry couchedin supportive terms is likely the most helpful approach