Mental Activity and Organ: Specific Emotions to Specific Organs?
Wei Cen1, 2, *, Ralph Hoppe3, and Ning Gu4
1Technische Universitaet Hmenau, Germany
2Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, China
3Ganzheit!iches Gesundheits Zentrum, Germany
4The Third Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, China
Submission: July 27, 2017; Published: August 07,2017
*Corresponding author: Wei Cen, Technische Universitaet Ilmenau, 98684, Germany, Email: sonnelichtsonne@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Wei C, Ralph H, Ning G. Mental Activity and Organ: Specific Emotions to Specific Organs?. J Complement Med Alt Healthcare. 2017; 3(1): 555605. DOI: 10.19080/JCMAH.2017.03.555605
Abstract
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the seven emotions, namely joy, anger, anxiety, contemplation, grief, fear and fright, directly affect the corresponding organs to bring on diseases. This is known as "internal injury caused by the seven emotions”. This traditional notion may offer a different way of thinking about how to treat diseases. Breathing rhythms can change in response to changes in emotions, such as sadness, happiness, anxiety or fear. This may open a door for research that could link specific emotions to specific organs as every organ has its own natural frequency.
Keywords: Emotion; Organ; Natural frequency; Breathing rhythms
Introduction
The 2nd-century physician Galen is said to have observed that women with melancholic dispositions seemed more inclined to breast cancer than those of a sanguine bent [1]. This great observation links physical diseases with mental activities, and emotions.
Emotions are classified into seven classes in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
Joy, anger, anxiety, contemplation, grief, fear and fright. The seven emotions refer to the human mental activities. In TCM, the seven emotions directly affect the corresponding organs to bring on diseases. This is known as "internal injury caused by the seven emotions”: excessive joy impairs the heart; anger impairs the liver; grief impair the lung, anxiety and excessive contemplation impairs the spleen, fright and fear impair the kidney [2]. The internal organs are strongly affected by the emotions.
An explanation about this notion is that the abnormal mental activities influence the circulation of Qi [3, 4] which is one of the fundamental substances maintaining life activities. To be more concrete, "Anger causes the Qi to ascend: joy makes the Qi sluggish; sorrow makes the Qi consumed; fear induces the Qi to dissipate; fright causes the disorder of the Qi; and anxiety brings about the depression of the Qi.” The dysfunction in ascending and descending of Qi will lead to changes in breathing rhythms. Researchers do have found that breathing rhythms can change in response to changes in emotions, such as sadness, happiness, anxiety or fear [5]. This may open a door for research that could link specific emotions to specific organs as every organ has its own natural frequency.
The heart corresponds to joy in the emotions. The lungs correspond to grief in the emotions. The liver corresponds to anger in the emotions. The spleen corresponds to anxiety and contemplation in the emotions. The kidney corresponds to fright and fear in the emotions. A certain organ is closely related to a certain emotional activity. This traditional notion might offer a different.
way of thinking about how to treat diseases: cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, heart failure, lung failure, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis, hypertension, mental disorders, suicide, etc. Harmony in seven emotions is the best medicine to protect the corresponding organs from getting hurt. Sudden, strong, long emotional stimuli will cause dysfunction of Qi, blood and the organs, hence leading to diseases. Therefore, a highly skilled doctor cures the underlying cause of emotional maladjustment of patients first, bodies the second and the diseases lastly.
References
- Holden C (1978) Cancer the Mind: How Are They Connected? 200(4348): 1363-1369.
- Wang B (2003) Ancient Books of TCM Publishing House. Beijing (Tang Dynasty). The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon.
- Holland A (2000) Voices of Qi: An Introductory Guide to Traditional Chinese Medicine.
- Cen W, Chen Z L, Gu N, Hoppe R (2017) Prevention of AMI induced ventricular remodeling: inhibitory effects of heart-protecting musk pill on IL-6 and TNF-Alpha, Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2017: 3217395.
- Homma I and Masaoka Y (2008) Breathing rhythms and emotions. Experimental Physiology 93(9): 1011-1021.