Below I describe the core, the glossary, the bibliography, and the appendix. Furthermore, I have sought material almost exclusively in English on the methods described in this dictionary. There are many alt-med methods in use that this work does not describe. For instance, it describes more than a few forms, variations, and hybrids of Qigong, but Qigong styles reportedly number many thousands. Synonyms for each method are in parentheses.
Pronunciations are in brackets.
I have tried to conform capitalization and hyphenation in names, and italicization of names, with the prevailing style among proponents of alternative medicine. The glossary describes some alt-med methods that are reasonably viewable as nonmystical, nonsupernaturalistic, and nonvitalistic, as well as theoretical constructs such as the collective unconscious. The bibliography does not name all of the writings that served as source materials for the entries. It specifies only some of such writings that were in book or pamphlet form and were favorable toward alternative medicine or toward a mode thereof. In every case of an author with a Chinese name, either the given name or its first letter precedes the surname.