CHAPTER 9

EIGHT-PRINCIPLE PATTERN DIFFERENTIATION

八纲辨证

Upon completion of this chapter, you are required to:

  1. Master the words that form the TCM terms associated with this chapter.
  2. Understand the meaning of new TCM terms formed by these words.
  3. Make new TCM terms in English with these words.
  4. Explain the pathomechanism* of deficiency and excess syndromes.
  5. Describe the types of yin-yang disharmony*.
  6. State pattern differentiation according to eight principles.

Pattern differentiation is the process of overall analysis of clinical data to determine the location, cause and nature of a disease* in order to achieve a diagnosis of a pattern.

There are many ways of recognizing patterns and the most common ways are listed in Fig. 9-1. For more references, you may search for "pattern differentiation", "syndrome differentiation", or "pattern identification" on the internet.

Fig. 9-1 Common ways of pattern differentiation

Eight-principle pattern differentiation is a categorization* of syndromes according to yin, yang, exterior, interior, cold, heat, deficiency and excess.