Acupuncture in the prevention of depression, mood disorders and the promotion of good mental and emotional health

The main thrust of acupuncture and Chinese medicine when preventing depression and promoting mental and emotional health is to consider the human being as a collection of five emotional and spiritual resources --- Hun, Shen, Yi, Po and Zhi, with anger, joy, reflection, grief, and fear. Balance and harmony within all these resources are required for good health and well-being.

Shen Disturbance and The Five Elements
(with some concordances)

The Chinese acupuncture model says there are no bad emotions as opposed to ridding ourselves of bad emotions. Instead they say that the resources are not being used well. Could that be the situation in some cases of mental health disturbance?

Negative emotions such as excess anger are evidence that the resources are not being utilised well. The idea is that human beings have five major resources and that if they are used well, humans manifest the positive aspects of those resources. Otherwise pathological aspects manifest, in other words, disease.

One way of balancing the resources is for you to do an inventory of your resources to see how well you are using them, or to look at how the resources are being used and find ways of using them better.

All mental, spiritual and emotional disturbances directly impact on their associated internal organs. For example a person who displays excessive, inappropriate or unresolved anger would eventually cause damage to Liver energy and/or Gall Bladder organs, with eyes that turn red, dry and sore. The anger makes Liver energy become hot and excessive.

Consequently Chi knots and blood stagnates, Yang rises violently to the head causing symptoms such as severe headache, rising blood pressure, red bloodshot eyes.

In time, if this hot Liver energy is not resolved, the heat will turn into fire that damages the heart, and the Shen becomes disturbed. The heat can also turn fluids into phlegm, which ‘mists the heart.’ This pattern has been seen in depression and mental problems.

Treatment with acupuncture and Chinese herbs directs the practitioner to correct the pathologies caused by a hot liver, which in Chinese medicine are named Liver Yang rising, Heart Blood deficiency with Fire, or Phlegm misting the heart. In depression or mental illness, multiple pathologies are often presented. Conversely, unhealthy organs will also manifest through unhealthy emotions, illness or disease.

In summary, disturbance of Shen gives rise to depression, mental and emotional disharmony, which then affects one or more of the internal organs. Due to the wholistic nature of human beings, pathogenesis of Shen disturbance leads to the rise of a negative feedback mechanism, as follows:

Shen Disturbance ---> mental, spiritual and emotional disharmony ---> internal organs ---> symptoms ---> Shen Disturbance

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