TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE AND MENTAL-EMOTIONAL DISORDERS Part 3

One more important aspect of the traditional Chinese approach to mental-emotional disorders has been the association between mental illness, as well as developmental disorders, with inheritance and defective congenital connections. It was believed that they were indicators of bad spirits along the ancestral line and were therefore a source of great shame. It was something that should be hid, because it would affect the marital propects of not only the person suffering from mental illness but also any siblings. Their social standing and opportunities in life would suffer.

As a result, the classic traditional Chinese medicine framework of approaching mental-emotional illness arose, which was to see it as some result of energetic imbalance in the body, possibly resulting from a disorder of a specific organ function. This somatisation helped to steer the focus away from the family of the person suffering the disorder.

In summary, we can see clear differences between the traditional Chinese and western approaches to mental-emotional disorders. The traditional Chinese approach involves social obligations to the family, a strict hierarchical society and family structure, a distinct taboo about mental illness, and a disaproval of strong emotional expression outside of the family. They place strong emphasis on self-control, lack of outward expression, and an ordered social life as guarantees of mental health. In contrast, western psychological theories have predominantly stressed free self-expression, spontaneity, and self-revelation as marks of emontional health.

Further information available at:

http://www.londonacupuncturetherapy.co.uk/stress-anxiety.php