Practical Diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Rating:
Summary: A TCM Diagnostic Dream -come -true!
Review: As a practicing acupuncturist of 12 years and teacher of this artful medicine, I found this book invaluable for both practioners and students of TCM. The wealth of information on examination methods(i.e.: tongue,pulse,abdomen,almost every aspect of facial diagnosis), 10 questions, and more was impressive! The author gives more than enough information to discern what pattern(s)are present and how to differentiate your diagnosis as well as how to write a report(listing helpful examples for the student or beginning practioner.) It was written in a very readable format and very interesting. Thanks to the author for compiling such a helpful text. I'm recommending it to all my students!

Rating:
Summary: Real Diagnosis
Review: Deng's fame as a doctor and teacher is widespread in China, and this book should serve to make him as renowned in the West.

Practical Diagnosis is the most thorough exposition of TCM diagnosis in English to date, and it is the only work on TCM diagnosis in English that is based on a rigorously denotative translation of a complete Chinese textbook using Wiseman and Ye's standard terminology. It is therefore possible to trace the meanings of individual words and phrases in the book back to the original Chinese language terms. The only reason this book doesn't receive all five stars is because it is often necessary to make that effort, though in fairness, it is extremely difficult to make a denotative translation from Chinese that sounds anything like good English. To the translators' credit, Practical Diagnosis succeeds more often than it fails in this aspect.

Amazon's description suggests that this book is advanced in its presentation, but it would be more accurate to say that it is an exceptionally thorough treatise of the ground matter of TCM diagnosis. I require this book in my classes on diagnosis and it seems that first year students have no real difficulty with it, aside from a few places in the text which lack clarity due to the methodological strictness mentioned above. In general, there is nothing about the book that excludes beginners, so long as there has been some introduction to the basic concepts and terms of Chinese medicine.

The book's content is of the first quality. Not only does it thoroughly discuss the principles and methods of the Four Examinations and the diagnostic models of Chinese medicine, it does so with great clarity for the most part and in a systematic, organized fashion. It is almost unique among the works available in English on the subject of TCM diagnosis in that it discusses the reasons signs and symptoms appear and change as they do in terms of TCM theory. Prior to Practical Diagnosis, "The Secret of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis" was the only English-language work on diagnosis that made any serious attempt at this type of discussion. Practical Diagnosis provides theoretical background for inquiry, listening and smelling, and inspection as well as for palpation diagnosis, with an emphasis tracking the changes of disease conditions to deepen one's diagnosis and prognosis. This explanatory material makes the topic much more accessible. Practical Diagnosis is the only English-language work other than the Practical Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine to present a meaningful discussion of the ten methods of complexion analysis.

Practical Diagnosis includes chapters on writing medical records and on the theory and clinical significance of many commonly-seen symptoms.

Practical Diagnosis is a complete textbook solution for teachers of Chinese medical diagnosis and an excellent resource for students and practitioners of all levels. If you get just one book on the subject of Chinese medical diagnosis, let it be this one.