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A method of treatment differs from a therapeutic principle, because the former is a concrete method of treatment set up in accordance with various syndromes, while the latter is a general rule you should follow in treating disease. A method of treatment is for treating a particular syndrome or a specific disease guided by therapeutic principles.

Traditionally, there are eight methods* in treating disease collectively as shown in Fig. 17-1.

Fig. 17-1 The eight treatment methods

Diaphoresis*, or sweat promoting method, is one of the eight principal therapeutic methods used for releasing the exterior* pattern. There are many clinical sweating methods. They include releasing the flesh*, dispersing wind*, dispelling wind*, dissipating cold*, dispersing wind and discharging heat*, dispersing from the exterior and moistening dryness*, dispersing wind-heat*, and diffusing the lung to suppress cough, resolve phlegm, and calm panting*.

Precaution and contraindication: sweating method can only be used for exterior conditions and should never be used for patients with sweating, vomiting, bleeding or diarrhea.

Emetic therapy uses herbs that over-stimulate the stomach. It is rarely used today except in emergency or life-threatening conditions. This method is only used in acute interior excess conditions, because it tends to injure the stomach and yin fluid of the body.

Purgation* is a treatment method used to relieve constipation, remove stagnant food, static blood, internal heat or excessive fluid through the bowels. Expelling retained fluid by purgation* is a therapeutic method of expelling retained fluid by using hydragogues*; removing cold accumulation with warm purgation* administers warming medicinals with purgatives to treat interior excess pattern due to internal cold binding.

It is not advisable to use purging methods on patients with deficiency pattern, pregnant women, and it is not recommended to use the method more than two times in a row.

Harmonizing method regulates the functions of visceral organs for restoring their normal correlation or mediates the part between the exterior and interior of the body for eliminating pathogens.

Commonly used clinical harmonizing methods are harmonizing the blood, harmonizing qi and blood, harmonizing the spleen and stomach, harmonizing the liver and stomach, and harmonizing and releasing the exterior and interior**

Warming method is applied to eliminating a cold pathogen and invigorate yang qi. Clinically, the method is widely used to tonify yang in cases of yang deficiency. The most common applications are for middle energizer deficiency cold patterns (spleen and stomach affected), and kidney yang deficiency patterns.* This method can bring back the yang in severe conditions, and, can be applied to restoring yang*.

Clearing method is a way to administer medicinals of a cool or cold nature to treat fire or heat pattern.

Tonifying method restores healthy qi by using tonifying medicinals, also called restoring method. It is a therapeutic method to treat deficiency of qi, blood, yin, yang, fluids, essence, and any of the internal organs.

Resolving therapy is used to treat food stagnation or chronic abdominal mass attributable to stagnation of qi, blood, phlegm and food, inappropriate to be purged and appropriate to be dispersed. Drying dampness to resolve phlegm* is a therapeutic method of treating dampness-phlegm pattern by using medicinals bitter in taste and drying in action. Softening hardness and resolving phlegm* is applied to treating hard phlegmatic mass. Directing qi downward to resolve phlegm* is a method of combined use of qi downbearing medicinals and phlegm-resolving medicinals to treat reverse flow of qi due to phlegm obstruction.

Other common resolving methods are warming the lung and resolving fluid retention*, extinguishing wind and resolving phlegm*, dispelling wind-phlegm*, and directing qi downward to resolve phlegm*.