"As a rule, Western Medicine conceives of illness as a 'disease entity', affecting particular areas of the body. According to that view, illness becomes a thing separate from the interaction of body, mind and spirit, so that it must be attacked with harsh weapons or be regarded as the malady it aims to cure: it does not aim at a moving target, but obliterates indiscriminately.
We need another way of seeing illness and health, a way that acknowledges change and the flow of energy, a way that does more than seek to destroy. An Asian approach to human anatomy and physiology stems from a perception of us in a fluid physical and energetic universe.
Internal organs and their workings are explained in terms of energy required to make them function," writes Letha Hadady, D.Ac., in Asian Health Secrets.
Kampo
According to information available on one holistic website, "Kampo is a Japanese system of Herbalism. Its' goal is to treat disease and to return people to health. Kampo shares the view with modern psychiatry that depression is a physical condition that manifests itself in emotional symptoms. In Kampo, depression is often compared to a 'broken heart' and Kampo's ancient theorists developed an elaborate theory of how disorders of the heart caused depression."
Depression
Kampo differentiates three types of depression:
Depression that results from too little nutritive energy reaching the heart. Symptoms for this depression are: insomnia, nervous unrest and night sweats.
Depression that results from too much nutritive energy reaching the heart "Blazing heart fire" caused acute mental illness, a condition in which depression alternated with mania, nightmares, palpitations, redness in the face, restlessness and ulcers of the mouth and tongue. This type of depression is most dangerous. It has to be handles with extreme care.
"Liver oppression" is a form of depression that originates in restrained anger. Symptoms include acid regurgitation or heartburn, anxiety, bloating, a feeling of fullness in the chest and pain in the side.
Kampo practitioners favor herbal formulas rather than single herbs for treating depression. It urges that the patient not take more than one Kampo formula for depression at one time. An individual should consult a Kampo or Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner to decide on the the formula most appropriate for them. Some specific Kampo treatments include barley sprouts, biota, gingko, licorice and morinda….
Emotions and Health
Another important concept is Chinese medicine's belief that emotions (namely anger, fear, grief, joy and anxiety) also influence one's health. Unlike Western medicine, which has too often in the past labeled as psychosomatic those illnesses related to emotional matters, Chinese medicine holds that when certain emotions are experienced in excess, they will affect particular organs.
Specifically, anger is associated with the liver, fear with the kidneys, grief with the lungs, joy with the heart and anxiety with the spleen. While the explicit connection between emotions and the vital organs is not always obvious to the layperson, examples such as the effect of grief and weeping on the lungs or how anxiety can affect the spleen or stomach by causing digestive problems is often easily seen by a practitioner.
Chi: Vital Energy in the Body
Nourishing the blood and the Chi ( the vital energy that flows through the body) is considered to be the key to health and longevity, according to Chinese medicine. It is also recommended to practice temperance in eating, drinking, and sexual activity, combined with proportionate amounts of work, exercise and rest. By practicing self-control and using herbal formulas, imbalances that occur as a result of over-indulgences can be corrected.
Refences;
Asian Health Secrets by Letha Hadady, D.Ac.
Chinese Herbal Medicine Made Easy by Thomas Richard Joiner
Last Update:: 0000-00-00
