Western herbal medicine (WHM) is a whole system of medicine that is based on beliefs and practices that evolved distinct from conventional Western medicine. Practitioners of WHM use naturally-occurring crude plant materials, such as roots or flowers with little processing for persons with chronic disease. Herbal medicines are formulated and designed for each person's unique symptom variations, energetic profile, cause and supporting mechanisms of the health issue. This approach to herbal medicine is not explicated in the literature and contrasts the use of highly-processed herb products in a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to reflect WHM as a whole complex system. The purpose of this study was to develop a grounded theory explaining the basic social psychological process WHM practitioners use to formulate plant medicines for individuals. Data were collected from a theoretical sample of 17 North American WHM practitioners contributing a total of 39 interviews and analyzed using the constant comparison method. The process of Personalizing Western Herbal Medicine consists of five steps with a decision-making subprocess of five steps. The core concept of Weaving a Tapestry of Right Relationships explains what practitioners do when Personalizing Western Herbal Medicine. Right relationship is emergent coherence and accounts for wholeness as the relationship of the parts and weaves through connecting each step in Personalizing Western Herbal Medicine. Creating Concordance describes right relationship between the person and the herbal medicine. Concordance is achieved when an herbal medicine fits the whole person and there is a personal shift or restoration of dynamic equilibrium.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/293447 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Niemeyer, Kathryn Jean |
| Contributors | Koithan, Mary S., Bell, Iris R., Reed, Pamela G., Koithan, Mary S. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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