Oriental Medicine and your Emotions

Thousands of years ago, physicians in China began to explore the nature of human emotion and discovered a direct link between emotion and the organ system.  Having helped many people resolve emotional imbalances over the years, we’ve found the following to be accurate from the point of view of the physical body (obviously many factors exist in life that may trigger bodily malfunction which, in turn, could then trigger an emotional response).  What is described below is the relationship between the emotions and physical body.

 Ÿ An  imbalance in LIVER function can cause a person to experience excessive or inappropriate    anger, irritability, frustration, impatience, and/or depression.  For example, a person could have experienced multiple emotional stresses over many years that suppressed liver function.  Then, the loss of a loved one could cause liver function to drop dramatically, and the person could then begin to experience  frequent bouts of depression.  On the other hand, a well-functioning liver will cause one to be generally relaxed, patient, and emotionally even.  It is interesting to note that intense     cardiovascular exercise pushes blood and energy through the liver thereby benefiting it greatly (this is one reason people feel so mellow after exercising).

Ÿ The HEART is the “king”  of emotions.  An imbalance in heart function can cause a person to experience short-term memory loss, excessive/inappropriate anxiety or panic attacks.  Normal heart function will provide one with good short-term memory.

Ÿ An imbalance in SPLEEN/PANCREATIC function will cause one to worry excessively or to over-think; strong spleen/pancreatic function will yield clear and crisp thinking at a normal pace.

Ÿ An imbalance in LUNG function will cause one to experience inappropriate or excessive grief, sadness, and/or melancholy.

Ÿ An imbalance in KIDNEY function will cause one to experience excessive or inappropriate fear; conversely, strong kidney function will cause a person to trust easily.

As  you can see, in many cases, excessive or inappropriate amounts of emotion can be caused by a breakdown in organ function, not simply an imbalance in brain chemistry, which is the typical     western medical view of emotional imbalances. The view of western medical theory can be quite  limited and, ironically, leads to further difficulty in resolving the problem.  For example, if one takes a medication for depression (which may be caused by a liver imbalance) and that medication reduces liver function, it makes it more difficult to treat the depression.  This is often why a person may take a medication for the length of their life… and the issue never fully resolves!

If you know someone suffering with any of the above problems, do not hesitate to have them call and ask questions!