The crucial difference between medical herbalists and today's orthodox doctor is, firstly, that the herbalist looks at the patient as a whole, while conventional doctors look for symptoms which enable them to diagnose and treat diseases. They see the person as the carrier of a disease, whilst the herbalist regards the patient as a diseased person, requiring a holistic treatment. Secondly, the medical herbalist is using whole plants or plant products containing active constituents, while doctors use these constituents in refined and isolated forms or synthetics.
As medical herbalists have become more scientifically minded in their research, so a new word has been coined to described their work: phytotherapy, from the Greek words phyton, meaning 'plant', and therapeuein, 'to take care of, to heal'.
A medical herbalist will treat the patient as an individual , with individual weaknesses and needs. He/She is likely to enquire about lifestyle, diet, stresses and look for any imbalance and disharmony, seeking the cause of the illness. Each treatment is tailored to specific and varying requirements.
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