Syndrome attractors: providing a system dynamics view of disease from the integrative medicine perspective.

Abstract

Biomedical science has long been based on a reductionist approach, attributing diseases to specific molecular or pathway abnormalities. However, for complex diseases caused by multiple interrelated biological dysfunctions, the static, localized and linear approach struggles to fully capture the biological essence of diseases, which makes it challenging to form effective therapeutic strategies. In contrast, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory offers distinct advantages. TCM identifies the comprehensive pathological state of the human body centered on the concept of syndrome differentiation; it employs systematic regulatory methods, and emphasizes the prevention of syndrome progression. This approach embodies both systemic and dynamic perspectives, thereby achieving great therapeutic outcomes for complex diseases. Nevertheless, current research on TCM syndromes has predominantly relied on a reductionist framework, interpreting syndromes merely as abnormalities in molecular expression levels; this limits the appreciation of their inherent systemic and dynamic characteristics. To address this issue, we propose an integrative perspective that is grounded in TCM syndrome theory while employing a nonlinear dynamical systems approach to disease understanding. In this paper, we first elucidate the state-medicine characteristics that are inherent in TCM theory; then we discuss how TCM syndromes align with the properties of an attractor in complex dynamical systems, proposing that TCM syndromes represent pathological attractor states of the human system; finally, we conceptualize a syndrome attractor in the system of the human body and elaborate on its value in modern medicine. This concept introduces the analytical methods of nonlinear dynamics into the study of TCM syndromes, enabling a more comprehensive elucidation of their systemic and dynamic biological basis. It bridges TCM syndrome differentiation and intervention methods with complexity science, thereby offering a new approach for integrating the holistic and systematic views of TCM with biomedical research. This study aimed to promote a dynamic systems-level understanding of diseases in modern medicine, while providing a reference for addressing current challenges for complex and refractory diseases. Please cite this article as: Zhao ZW, Li WY, Li WZ, Wang Y. Syndrome attractors: Providing a system dynamics view of disease from the integrative medicine perspective. J Integr Med. 2026; Epub ahead of print.