We now live in a time where it is becoming easier to acknowledge our emotions and are given more leeway to analyse them and talk about them. Growing awareness is important for any real change to happen. For example, PTSD and ADHD were not known and recognized until recently. Children were just ‘naughty’, some people were ‘recluse’ or ‘weird’ or had ‘weak nerves’; dismissing post-traumatic stress as ‘shell shock’ is thankfully a thing of the past. Stress, anxiety and (chronic) fatigue are not just catch words, but almost everybody has experienced them to varying degrees.
In Chinese medicine (CM), there is a close connection between the body and the mind (Shen). If there is an imbalance, symptoms will appear. Again, the importance of a well-balanced diet, moderate exercise and healthy sleeping habits cannot be stressed enough in order to keep this balance in place.
But once symptoms have developed, they will be interpreted according to Chinese medicine (CM) rules. Several factors are important. For example, which emotion is the prevalent one: worry, fear, anger, sadness, or agitation. What triggers the imbalance – for example, is it when meeting other people, or late at night when certain scenarios keep replaying in the head preventing sleep. Does the world feel grey and empty or is it more the feeling of ‘standing next to oneself’.
All these symptoms, together with a general health analysis will show if the main imbalance is one of Heat or Cold, of Excess or Deficiency, or of Stagnation.
For example, stress is often some form of Qi (Energy) stagnation. If it causes outbursts of anger, there is likely rising Heat involved. If the constant stress has started to cause fatigue and sleep disturbances, the body is getting drained trying to cope with the stress and a deficiency is building up.
As always in CM, there are no ‘one-fits-all’ solutions in CM, the individual makeup of the symptoms has to be analysed to treat with the best fit of acupuncture points and herbal medicine.
If you want to discuss your specific signs and symptoms and see what CM can do for you or want to make an appointment:
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