In Korean traditional medicine, though herbal decoction, acupuncture, and moxibustion are all used to treat diseases, restorative medicines are the most widely preferred treatment method. This paper explores the historical background of restorative herbal medicines and ginseng among the Korean public and Korean traditional medicine practice. It also seeks to clarify how social and cultural perspectives on drug use have changed since restorative medicine became mainstream during the Joseon era. Drug use tendencies were affected by the medical system of the Joseon Dynasty, patients' desires for reliable treatment, and perceptions of the human body and the causes of disease. In the late Joseon Dynasty, medicine, an industry originally monopolized by the government, began to be manufactured and traded on the free market, and medical personnel began to participate in medical activities on a large scale. As the healthpreserving theory became more popular and medical personnel became more accessible, medicinal preferences also changed. Specifically, whereas preference was first given to common medicines, such as Cheongsimwon, which are effective for various symptoms, restorative medicines, such as ginseng, gradually became more popular. These restorative medicines were faithful to the basic tenet of East Asian traditional medicine: to avoid disease by making the body healthy before the onset of illness. Patients' desires for safe treatment and growing competition among commercial doctors who wanted stable profits further increased the popularity of milder medicines. Ultimately, as ginseng cultivation was realized, its use expanded even further in a wave of commercialization.
Acupuncture ; History of Medicine* ; Human Body ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Medicine, Korean Traditional ; Methods ; Moxibustion ; Panax*

OBJECTIVE: The basic concepts and methods applied in the techniques of Taoistic meditation, Yang- Sheng-Sul are analyzed and interpreted from the medico-psychological viewpoint with special reference to the descriptions on Yang-Sheng in the Korean classics of traditional medicine, Dong-Ui-Bo-Gam. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: 'Dong-Ui-Bo-Gam' has adopted mainly the Taoistic concepts of body as microcosm and concepts of three basic vital forces of Ching, Chi, Shen, three fields of Tan, the incorruptible essence and its circulating routes in the body. The Taoistic breathing techniques Bok-Ki and physical exercises Do-In are based upon the belief on the metaphysical views of body and life. The concepts of three vital forces Ching, Chi, Shen the nurturing of which is regarded as the ultimate goal of Taoistic Yang-Sheng are taken into consideration. These concepts can be comparable to the concept of 'psychoid function' in terms of Jung, the intermediator between soma and psyche. The concepts of Ch(n Shim(Heaven's Heart), Tao, Tan(the corruptible body), Tae-Shik(the fetal breath) represent the symbols of Self in terms of analytical psychology of Jung. Yang-Sheng-Sul can be regarded, in comparison with the Western alchemy, as an alchemical opus performed within the field of body by means of both imagination and physical exercises to achieve the state of immortality which is reflecting partly the symbolic manifestations of the self actualization in Jungian term. Authors also reviewed the results of experimental researches of Taoistic meditation on its physiologic effects and found the necessity for a more elaborated researches and investigations in this concern.
Alchemy ; Carisoprodol ; Exercise ; Imagination ; Medicine, Korean Traditional* ; Medicine, Traditional ; Meditation* ; Psychology ; Respiration ; Triacetoneamine-N-Oxyl ; Troleandomycin

Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; therapy ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Humans ; Integrative Medicine ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Medicine, Korean Traditional ; Rheumatology ; United States

BACKGROUND: There were a lot of problems in the health care system of Korea, which was divided into Western and Korean Traditional Medicine since 1951. In 1976 WHO published program of The promotion and development of traditional medicine. In 1977, Korean Medical Association(KMA) asked unification of health care system to government. But there was no progress because there were the lacks of mutual respect and understanding be-tween doctors of Western and Korean Traditional Medicine. As one health care group competed with the other, so KMA proposed the unification of health system again in 1997. The objectives of this research are to analyze attitude and opinions of western medical doctors on Korean Traditional Medicine and to analyze the opinions on the unification of medical care system in Korea. METHODS: A list of western medical doctor in Seoul and Incheon was obtained from Korean Medical Association. We sampled 937 doctors by stratified random sampling method. We sent them a postal questionnaire with a prepaid return envelope two times during March and April 1997. Of the 937 questionnaire, 266 replies were received. We analyzed the preference score related referral, Korean Traditional Medicine education and unification of medical care system We analyzed the data by Chisquare test, t-test, ANCOVA. RESULTS: This study shows that the western doctors have negative attitude on Korean Traditional Medicine(M=1K8, SD=5.2). They thought Korean Traditional Medicine was not reliable because it was not scientific(79.4%). Doctor, who didn't take oriental medical education, preferred unification of health care system, but it was not statistically significant. Those who experienced oriental medical education used oriental medical treatment more frequently(F=1.17, p=0.04). The more positive attitude they have about Korean Traditional Medicine, the more frequently they refereed the patient to oriental medical doctor(t =3.57, p =0.0004). CONCLUSIONS: Western medical doctors have a negative attitude on Korean Traditional Medicine. Doctors, who did not have oriental medical education, preferred unification of health care system, but it was not statistically significant. In summary, the lack of mutual respect and understanding between doctors of the Western and Korean Traditional Medicine prevent unification of medical care system.
Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Incheon ; Korea ; Medicine, Korean Traditional* ; Medicine, Traditional ; Referral and Consultation ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Although the management of benign pigmented skin tumors are mainly conducted by dermatologists, some Korean traditional doctors provide care. We aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of the medicinal knowledge of pigmented benign skin tumors that is recorded in the Korean traditional medicinal literature, in the context of modern medicine. We defined benign pigmented skin tumors as macules, papules, or nodules with homogeneous surfaces and coloration patterns, that are round or oval in shape, exhibit regular outlines, and have relatively sharp borders. We investigated textbooks and articles in the Korean traditional medicinal field to analyze descriptions of clinical classification, pathophysiology, histologic knowledge, and treatment method. We compared them with modern medicinal facts. In Korean traditional medicine, clinical classification of pigmented skin tumors is simple and did not include histologic natures. Unique theories, such as Yin-Yang and Qi, were applied to pathophysiologic understanding of these diseases. Interestingly, oral medications were used beside surgical methods. We could not find any comment about skin tumors with worrisome clinical features that warrant excision in Korean traditional medicinal literature. There is still a gap between traditional medicine and modern medicine regarding pigmented skin tumors. Traditional Korean medicinal knowledge about benign pigmented skin tumors seemed to be insufficient in the context of modern medicinal standards.
Classification ; Diagnosis ; History, Modern 1601- ; Medicine, Korean Traditional* ; Medicine, Traditional ; Melanoma ; Methods ; Nevus, Pigmented ; Qi ; Skin* ; Yin-Yang

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to obtain the basic information on how oriental psychiatric specialists have learned oriental psychiatry, have been trained as a clinician and have conducted recent psychiatric researches. METHODS: We reviewed textbooks, references and annual reports, which have been used and published at the Korean colleges of oriental medicine and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. We also applied detailed questionnaires to 30 oriental physicians for identifying the current situation of local oriental clinics. In addition, we inspected the reports related with oriental psychiatry from 2000 to 2004. RESULTS: The number of oriental hospitals and clinics was 8,638 (12.9% of the total number of hospitals and clinics), and 14,480 oriental physicians have been licensed in 2003 and 16,182 in 2005. Since 2003, 62 oriental psychiatric specialists have been produced. The number of national medical insurance claims for mental disorders from oriental hospitals and clinics in 2002 was 9.0% of the total number of claims. At local oriental clinics, 29.8 patients with psychiatric problems were treated monthly. 2.6% in men and 11.0% in women visited local oriental clinics due to psychiatric symptoms. One hundred fifty-one papers associated with psychiatry have been published during recent 5 years, and 54.7% of them were pertinent to case studies. CONCLUSION: The current status of oriental psychiatric education and training system could be rather inadequate to produce competent oriental doctors who can perform psychiatric practices. In addition, the objective and scientific research data should be accumulated to confirm the hypothesis and effectiveness of psychiatric evaluation and treatment of oriental medicine.
Education* ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance ; Male ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Medicine, Korean Traditional* ; Mental Disorders ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Specialization

In this study, I aim to reveal how Lee Gyoojoon's medicine has given birth to a current of learning, the supporting yang current of learning, and describe its historical significance. Before anything, I'd like to throw the question of whether if there were any currents within the traditional Korean medicine. There are no records of medical currents being widely discussed until now in medical history of Korea; however, the current of Lee Jema's sasang medicine is the most noticeable one. Among the contemporaries of Lee Jema, during the late Chosun, there was also another famed medical practitioner called Lee Gyoojoon. Lee Gyoojoon mainly practiced his medicine within Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do area, his apprentices have formed a group and have succeeded his medical practice. Based on the analyses of Lee Gyoojoon's apprentices and the Somun Oriental Medical Society, which is known as a successor group to Lee Gyoojoon's medicine today, they are fully satisfying the five requirements to establish a medical current: first, they held Lee Gyoojoon as the first and foremost, representative practitioner of their current; second, they advocate the supporting yang theory suggested by Lee Gyoojoon, which is originated from his theory of Mind; third, books such as the Major Essentials of Huangdi's Internal Classic Plain Questions, and the Double Grinded Medical Mirror, were being used as the main textbooks to educate their students or to practice medicine. Fourth, Lee Gyoojoon's medical ideas were being transcended quite clearly within his group of apprentices, including Seo Byungoh, Lee Wonse, and the Somun Oriental Medical Society. Fifth, Lee Gyoojoon's apprentices were first produced through the Sukgok School, however, nowadays they are being produced through medical groups formed by Lee Wonse, the Somun Oriental Medical Society, regarding the propagation of medical theories, compilation of textbooks, publication of academic journals, etc. Then, what do the existence of the supporting yang current have their significances in history? First of all, Heo Joon, the great medical practitioner in 16th century Chosun, have revealed through his book the Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine (TMEM), that the essence of Eastern medicine differentiated from South and North medicine of China is being transcended in Korean medicine. However, we have not got a clear conclusion on what his views of the essence of Eastern medicine is. The TMEM is the legacy of Neo-confucianism, dominant in the Chosun at the time, and is considered the reference which covers from Taoism to Korean Medicine, that is practical as well as systematical in categorizing illnesses, their respective prescriptions, and herbs. Maybe, it seems that such characteristics of the TMEM naturally led the medical practitioners and Confucian scholars, Lee Jema and Lee Gyoojoon to adopt its principles, and furthermore, possibly contributed in materializing the tradition of Eastern Medicine. Secondly, both currents appeared in the late period of Chosun dynasty. Then, weren't there any preceding medical currents before them? The bureaucratic and centralized government of the Chosun dynasty demanded and supplied talents through a nationwide examination system. However, since the late-16th century, a few family from the Chungin class have come to dominate the important medical positions as inheritance doctors, bringing about the expansion of the private medical sector, as well as growth in the number of medical practitioners. This naturally brought about fierce competition among the practitioners, and it is probable that the competition sparked the need for standardized groups and societies that follow a single medical doctrine or theory, to differentiate from the others. Probably, the birth of current of learning, which succeeded to Lee Jema and Lee Gyoojoon's medical theory, exists as an extension of this social background. The major changes in systems to build a new Chosun in 1894 brought about the abolitions of old and antique institutions. Inheritance doctors naturally collapsed, and every medical practitioners had to compete in an open market. However, Lee Jema and Lee Gyoojoon, as a medical practitioner and Confucian scholar, weren't from medical families; instead, they have successfully established and led their medical groups. The Sasang medicine current, which first began in the Hamhung area, had creative medical theories and excellent practices, naturally led the discourses traditional medicine in the center areas of the Korean peninsula. In contrast, the supporting yang current, more popular in the Youngnam area at one time, struggled to keep their current during the period of Korean War, National Industrialization and Modernization. And it was only Lee Wonse's personal dedication to the current that made it survive through the times. It was not until the late 1990s, when the apprentices have gathered Lee Gyoojoon's accomplishments, that formed the Somun Oriental Medical Society as well as the supporting yang current. In summary, the birth and the succession of the supporting yang current clearly depicts how the various traditional medical groups and societies on the periphery have survived and transcended through difficult times. And at the same time, they can provide chance to ruminate the historical flow of traditional medicine in Korea.
History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Korea ; Medicine, Korean Traditional/*history

King Jungjo who introduced the advent of cultural renaissance of Chosun Dynasty as little been known about his work in medicine. With a wide knowledge in medicine, he was the only one among the kings who wrote a book on medicine, called "SueMinMyoJeon". In this paper, his perspective on medicine will be looked into based on "The Annals of the Chosun Dynasty", "Seungjeongwon Ilgi", "Hong Je jun Se", "KukGoBoGam", "Ildkrok", "JeJungShinPyun", "SueMinMyoJeon" etc. King Jungo valued empiricism in the field of medicine. He deepened understandings in medicine while taking care of King Youngjo, the late king. And it led him to author "SueMinMyoJeon" himself, and further ordered the publications of "JeJungShinPyun" "MaGuaHeoiTong". These two books were conducted to include empirical cases of folklore remedy. King Jungjo's medical philosophy can be epitomized in filial piety and realization of people-serving politics, which are the essentials of Confucianism. His filial piety towards the late king, Youngjo and his mother is shown in his devotion when taking care of them. Especially the way he examined the differentiation of diseases and corresponding treatments is well described in "The Annals of the Chosun Dynasty". "JeJungShinPyun" was also published and it came handy for folk villagers in times of medical needs. Later this book influenced "BangYakHaepPyun" by Hwang Do Yeon. King Jungjo emphasized pragmatism in spreading medical knowledges, thus removing the theoretical contents that are related to Taoism, especially the ones on alchemy from "DongEuiBoGam", when publishing "SueMinMyoJeon". Even the excerpts from "SoMun" were taken out, if not practical. King Jungjo, however, discussed the importance of healthy regimen and mentioned himself practicing it from the book "IlDeukLok", which seems to be the only book that derailed from the pragmatistic track. King Jungjo put emphasis on consistency between diagnosis and treatment. In diagnosing, Meridian pulse was taken important as a means of finding the origin of disease, while deploring how doctors then neglected to study.
History, 18th Century ; Humans ; Korea ; Medicine, Korean Traditional/*history ; Philosophy, Medical/*history ; Reference Books, Medical

The goals of this article are to survey American scholarship of medicine in Korea during the modern period and to suggest perspectives such studies offer to the fields of Korean history, Asian studies, and "mainstream" history of medicine. Until recently, the history of medicine in modern Korea has been peripheralized in the larger fields within which it is subsumed for various reasons. Earlier researchers tended to operate from "Orientalist" frameworks or were informed by "modernization theory," and thus have focused generally on American interventions in Korean public health and medicine (through missionaries, the US military, and other aid organizations) or that which has been conventionally perceived as "traditional" medicine. Critical scholarship in fields of STS and post-colonial studies, however, have recently inspired new research that reassess polemic issues such as technology transfer, translation of knowledge, cultural encounters, governmentality, processes involved in the revitalization of Hanui, construction of gender, and nexus among medicine, science, and technology. As such the field as expanded beyond Korean history to include anthropology, sociology, STS, and linguistics. Moreover, given the transnational nature of academia and possibilities for productive comparative research, Korean history of medicine may soon no longer remain in the margins.
History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Medicine, Korean Traditional/*history ; Republic of Korea

Many herbs have been used as therapeutics in Korean traditional medicine. In view of their clinical indications, anti-oxidant activity may contribute to their pharmacological effects. However, anti-oxidant information on these plants has not been available. In this study, seventy herbs which have been used in Korean traditional medicine were selected and screened for anti-oxidant activity using their water extracts. The anti-oxidant activity was assessed by their ability to inhibit three oxidation reactions; luminol/Fenton reagent, 2, 7-dichlorodihydrofluorescein (DCHF)/Fenton reagent and DCHF/peroxynitrite. In each assay, 70 herbs were divided into two groups; anti-oxidant group which inhibited the respective oxidation reaction and was majority (about 60 herbs), and pro-oxidant group which enhanced the oxidation reaction but was minority (more or less 10 herbs). When the herbs were listed in the order of their anti-oxidant strength, the orders obtained from each assay were found to be quite similar. The upper top rankers (more or less 10 herbs) in each assay showed strong activity compared to the others. The uppermost rankers in each assay were Rubus coreanus Miquel/ Rubus schizostylus, Schisandra chinensis Baillon/ Schizandra chinensis and Terminalia chebula Retzius/ Terminalia chebula. Of the pro-oxidant herbs, about 4-5 herbs were strongly pro-oxidant, which enhanced the control oxidation reactions to 150-300%. But the meaning of this observation is not known since few of them in one assay were also anti-oxidant in other assays. The results obtained in the present study may serve as information for understanding pharmacological effects of these herbs and developing new drugs from them.
Hydrogen Peroxide ; Iron ; Luminescence ; Medicine, Korean Traditional ; Peroxynitrous Acid ; Schisandra ; Terminalia ; Water