Western Herbal Medicine
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Western herbal medicine in the UK has a number of historical roots:
The Graeco-Roman tradition is linked to the Hippocratic writings (4-5th century BC), to Dioscorides (1st century AD) and to Galen (2nd century AD), a tradition which laid the foundations for European (and Islamic) medicine until the modern era. The Hippocratic writings included herbal medicine, but they covered a much wider range of methods to encourage health, including diet and what would now be called lifestyle, environmental and psychotherapeutic measures. These emphasise the natural healing power of life (vis medicatrix naturae). This remains important in the practice of western herbal medicine, associated with an emphasis on gentle encouragement of physiological change as well as the treatment of symptoms. |
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The influence of botanic medicine practised in North America on traditional herbal practice in the UK manifested particularly through the 19th century Eclectic and Physiomedical movements, which themselves incorporated much of the herbal knowledge and herbs of the Native Americans. As global communication and transportation expanded, plants from other parts of the world have been incorporated into the Western herbal framework.
The American movements had reacted strongly against the remedies of the ‘regular physic’ of the time (dominated by toxic minerals based on mercury, arsenic, antimony and sulphur), and emphasised the importance of physiological support as well as compensation for any physiological deficit.
Like practitioners of other traditions, Western herbal practitioners assert the importance of a vital integrative energy which maintains homeostasis. This viewpoint underpins treatments aimed at increasing vitality by improving the function of individual systems/organs. However, where the pathological process has gone too far, or it is necessary to break a vicious circle of debilitating processes, compensation will be required, for example with the use of anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antiseptic or anti-allergenic remedies.
Modern Western herbal medicine practice is rooted in hundreds of years of experience of using plant medicines which today is underpinned by the scientific study (pharmacognosy) of plant medicines and their chemical constituents. Apart from the herbal medicine itself, herbal practitioners will routinely offer advice on appropriate changes of lifestyle, diet and the adoption of stress-reduction techniques and remedial exercise
The American movements had reacted strongly against the remedies of the ‘regular physic’ of the time (dominated by toxic minerals based on mercury, arsenic, antimony and sulphur), and emphasised the importance of physiological support as well as compensation for any physiological deficit.
Like practitioners of other traditions, Western herbal practitioners assert the importance of a vital integrative energy which maintains homeostasis. This viewpoint underpins treatments aimed at increasing vitality by improving the function of individual systems/organs. However, where the pathological process has gone too far, or it is necessary to break a vicious circle of debilitating processes, compensation will be required, for example with the use of anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antiseptic or anti-allergenic remedies.
Modern Western herbal medicine practice is rooted in hundreds of years of experience of using plant medicines which today is underpinned by the scientific study (pharmacognosy) of plant medicines and their chemical constituents. Apart from the herbal medicine itself, herbal practitioners will routinely offer advice on appropriate changes of lifestyle, diet and the adoption of stress-reduction techniques and remedial exercise
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