While modern medicine might view disease as a malevolent external invasion by an enemy that must be destroyed, Traditional Chinese Medicine would tend to see it as a state of depletion or vacuity establishing vulnerability and allowing malevolent agents to enter the body and cause disease.  Treatment protocol in TCM would be directed toward what is referred to as the “root” of a disease rather than aggressively attacking superficial manifestations or symptoms.  Since Chinese medicine is a whole person medicine the root of the disease might be found in the physical plane (viscera, trauma, or genetic, etc), or most frequently on the inspirational or spiritual plane (the seven passions-anger, joy, preoccupation, grief, fear, fright, rage).

For example, in the case of menopausal syndrome, modern medicine approach is to augment or supplement sex hormones, (estrogen and progesterone) in order to stabilize the blood levels of these messengers.  In TCM the approach is to tonify all glands and physiological mechanizes responsible for the production of these hormones so that whatever levels of hormones production exist, blood levels will not fluctuate, thereby allowing the patient to experience a gradual withdrawal without dominating symptoms.