What is Traditional Thai Medicine?

Today, scholars differentiate between two forms of Traditional Thai Medicine: the Royal or literate tradition and the unregulated Folk traditions. The Royal tradition is espoused by medical schools and supported by the Thai government. The unregulated Folk practices have been passed orally from generation to generation by individual healers.

The Royal Tradition is a system of medicine codified by the Ministry of Public Health in the late 1990s. It is a formal medical discipline that Thai students may study in universities. Schools teach this tradition throughout the kingdom, and courses run for three to four years. Many schools also offer shorter courses that run weekly and are available and popular among tourists. Aspiring professionals must take only herbal medicine and massage but must be licensed to practice.

Royal Traditional Thai Medicine looks to Ayurveda to explain and systemize its doctrine. Royal TTM also depends on Western, Chinese and other influences. Before this codification, it was unclear how strong these influences were on Thai medicine.

The Folk or Rural Tradition exists outside of this literate tradition. The Folk Tradition is an assortment of informal practices passed down from teacher to student, varying from place to place.

The Folk Tradition consists of practices quite different from its elite counterpart – native massage, herbal medicine, tattooing, astrology, amulet-making, mediumship, exorcism, etc. Folk healers who are neither licensed nor regulated employ these practices. Such healers learn orally and experientially, and a background in scientific theory is often lacking. Healers of the Rural Tradition may seem more like shamans and witch doctors than actual physicians to a modern observer. Yet tempting as it is to dismiss it all as mere superstition or even as “quack” medicine, many Thai people still consult folk healers, even in urbanized areas.

The Royal and Folk traditions view health, illness and treatment differently. The Royal Tradition views disease as the manifestation of the body struggling between balance and chaos. This tradition believes that properly flowing energy is critical to health and, therefore, tries to balance the elements in the body.

By comparison, Thai folk tradition blames illness on spiritual possession, fear, problems, and an imbalance of elements in the body. Healers see disease and misfortune as attacks from evil beings such as angry ghosts and displaced spirits. Healers use charms, prayers, tattoos, amulets and rituals to thwart these attacks. Thais regard Thai massage as an essential form of therapy for these disorders.

Unfortunately for outsiders, a lot of secrecy surrounds Thai folk healing. Healers guard their arts jealously and transmit them orally directly to their heirs. Furthermore, the government neither endorses nor sanctions these practices and instead promotes the Royal Tradition as the legitimate form of TTM. Thai medical and massage schools teach the Royal Thai massage style, so it is challenging to learn folk traditions, especially for foreigners.

Despite the work of the government, people in Thailand continue to blame illness on spiritual possession, fear, problems, and an imbalance of elements in the body. Villagers regard massage as a vital form of therapy. They often prefer locally prepared remedies, treatments by local healers and traditional massage therapy from hospitals and doctors.