Over the past two decades, the popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), what many call an “empowering” form of medicine, has skyrocketed. CAM is really an umbrella term that can refer to a variety of forms of care, including homoeopathy, acupuncture, phytotherapy, thermalism, osteopathy, and chiropractics. As training in CAM becomes more academic and widely accepted, a growing number of patients around the world are turning to alternative forms of medicine, especially for the treatment of chronic, degenerative diseases. In the U.S., sixty percent of physicians referred patients for complementary medical care in 1994, and most insurance companies now offer plans that cover alternative treatments.

One of the most venerable forms of CAM is still practiced today among the inhabitants of Tibet. Tibetan medicine’s origins stretch back to the 8th and 9th centuries C.E., finding its roots in the fusion of Central Asian, Chinese, Indian, and Greco-Persian traditions of medical practice. Part of what makes Tibetan Medicine unique is that it integrates so many forms of treatment, including yoga, herbal pharmacology, and acupuncture.

The philosophy that underpins alternative approahces like Tibetan medicine differs in fundamental ways from a western-style biomedical approach. Instead of studying the mechanisms of disease, Tibetan medicine addresses the behavioral and psychosomatic factors that lead to and signal the presence of illness. Many alternative forms of medicine are based on the principle that factors such as environment, lifestyle, or personality may make an individual more disease-prone. For example, a practitioner of Tibetan medicine might conclude that an introverted person who often denies responsibility is more susceptible to obesity or to developing cardiovascular disease. In contrast with Western biomedicine, which localizes illness within the individual, Tibetan medicine deploys recognized idioms that convey distress in the context of shared social experience, a focus that takes on enhanced meaning when considered against the backdrop of Tibet’s long history of oppression.