Traditional Chinese Medicine and Mental Health Treatment

History and Origins of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Records show that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is more than 2,000 years old, although other written records date back 3,500 years earlier (Maclean and Shane 1999), and archaeological evidence suggests it began at least 5,000 years ago. Although called "traditional," TCM actually underwent a series of changes and adaptations in response to various influences — politics, economics, science, technology, and social and cultural shifts — to the point that Western medicine almost replaced it (Maclean and Shane), particularly following the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. TCM was restored and regained popularity only by the mid-1950s, and since then has continued to serve and benefit the Chinese people as well as the rest of the world.

Foundational Concepts: Qi, Yin-Yang, and the Causes of Disease

TCM is founded on the concept of qi, the natural life force or energy that constitutes everything and everyone in the universe — humans, animals, plants, and even the elements. Condensed qi is matter; refined qi is spirit. Qi is produced in the body when food combines with inhaled air. The purpose of TCM is to introduce, restore, balance, or correct the presence of this life force in the body. TCM teaches that deficiency, blockage, or loss of qi accounts for fatigue, disease, poor physical or mental health, and ultimately death (Xi Yi Tang). Qi must circulate throughout the body through its channels or meridians for a person to be in perfect health.

TCM also focuses on the balance between opposites in the universe — day and night, the sun and the moon, light and darkness, male and female. The Taoist symbols of yang and yin express this balance. A disturbance to that balance, whether external or internal, results in disease or discomfort when it occurs in the human body. TCM identifies the external causes of disease as the six evils: wind, cold, fire, damp, summer heat, and dryness. The internal causes are the seven effects: joy, anger, anxiety, thought, sorrow, fear, and fright. In some cases, TCM also attributes disease to miscellaneous causes such as injury, fatigue, exercise, and a person's physical constitution (Xi Yi Tang). TCM maintains that every disease arises from one or more of these causes or effects (Singler 1998), and that disease can in turn produce particular emotional states.

Practitioners claim that TCM can address even severe emotional and mental conditions — such as alcoholism, manic depression, schizophrenia, and eating disorders — which Western medicine finds difficult to treat (Singler). A further distinction from Western or conventional medicine is that TCM evaluates and treats the entire person, not just the localized bodily complaint, because its objective is the fullness and unity of the person's body, mind, and spirit.

Singler identifies five chief human emotions or mental states that give rise to disease and affect specific areas of the body: (1) fear and shock, which disturb the kidney and bladder meridians; (2) worry or over-contemplation, affecting the stomach and spleen meridians; (3) sadness or grief, affecting the lungs and large intestine meridians; (4) anger, frustration, or depression, affecting the liver and gallbladder meridians; and (5) over-excitement, affecting the heart and small intestine meridians (Singler). What makes TCM unique — and what has allowed it to survive — is its distinctiveness as an alternative to conventional, synthetic Western medicine, especially in the treatment of stress and other mental disorders. Unlike its conventional counterparts, TCM has no side effects, is non-addicting, is inexpensive, and treats accompanying signs and symptoms as effectively as the root causes (Singler). TCM makes use of natural treatment methods such as acupuncture, herbs, diet, massage, qi exercise, minerals, and animal products (Maclean and Shane).