When the Ten Thousand Things are seen in their Oneness, We return to the Origin where we have always been. - Sengtan

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NEWS RELEASE

May 15, 2008
For More Information Contact: Kathleen Rushall Phone: (800) 729-0941

Emotions and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine takes into account both external and internal factors in the creation of an individual's diagnosis. The current emotional state of the patient is one internal factor that traditional Chinese medicine believes to be very important. Traditional Chinese medical theory believes the body is in the control of the Five Elements: Earth, Wood, Fire, Water, and Metal. Each element corresponds to a specific organ as well as a specific emotion.

According to the Five-Element school of thought, anger is associated with Wood; joy is associated with Fire, pensiveness with Earth, grief with Metal, and fear with Water. The liver is associated with Wood and therefore with anger, the heart with Fire and joy, the spleen with Earth and pensiveness, the lung with Metal, and grief and the kidney with Water and fear.

Emotions in TCM have slightly different meanings than their Western interpretations. In TCM joy, for example, refers to a state of agitation or over-excitement, rather than elation. Related to the heart, this emotion is correlated with heart palpitations, repeated agitation, and insomnia. Anger in TCM is considered to represent resentment, frustration, and irritability. An excess of rich blood is believed to make one prone to anger, and can affect the liver, causing this organ's energy to rise to the head and result in headaches or dizziness. Pensiveness is thought to be an excess of mental stimulation that can affect the spleen (which rules over vital energy). Lungs are associated with the feeling of grief. Unresolved grief can lead to problems with general energy and one's qi (life force) because the lungs are thought to distribute this throughout the body. Like the other emotions, fear is considered a normal and at times, inevitable emotion. However, if it becomes chronic, or settles as a deep anxi ety, the kidneys can be affected. The kidney's ability to hold qi may be impaired, and involuntary urination can also occur.

By striving to balance the organ related to the person's emotional state, the emotion can be balanced as well, and visa versa. Acupuncture is one way to accomplish this re-alignment. There are certain points used in acupuncture that accord with specific organs, and treating these points is how feelings and acupuncture can interplay.

Emotions are considered to be normal and healthy, it is only when they become extreme or uncontrollable that they can open the door to disease. TCM believes them to be the major internal cause of disease within the body, but also the most easily influenced - meaning, that with the right attention and treatment, emotions and their corresponding ailments can change.

For more information on how emotions are related to TCM, please call(800) 729-0941, or visit www.PacificCollege.edu.

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