Negative thoughts 'make you ill'

September 2, 2003

Comments by Attilio:

I believe it is the Lung that is related to the immune system in TCM.

Of course, grief will lower the Lung Qi.

I think that negative thought patterns related more to the Spleen.

Excessive thinking causing spleen Qi deficiency, a lack of Qi and

Blood and therefore nourishment to the whole body and Zangfu.

The spleen is also the mother of the Lung and may therefore affect

the Lung/immune system in that way. Negativity can also be related to

the Liver, as negativity in itself is a form of anger. This will also

lead to Liver qi stagnation or Liver Yang rising. Liver Qi stagnation

can cause depression whilst Liver Yang rising can flare up and burn

the Lung (injury the immune system).

What do others think?

>>>>>Remember that in different parts of the classics these emotions are related

to different Organs. Very little specific (i.e. differential effects) have been

documents so far by science. Mostly effects have been related to stress in

general

Alon

September 17, 2003

I understand that the TCM sages would use emotion to trigger a movement of

Qi that was stagnant or deficient in another part of the body. So for

example:-

Overcoming joy (Heart-heat)* with fright (Kidney-cold)

Overcoming obsession (Spleen-dampness) with anger (Liver-wind)

Overcoming sorrow (Lung-dryness) with joy (Heart-heat)

Overcoming worry (Kidney-cold with anger (Liver-wind)

Overcoming excessive joy (Heart-heat) with grief (Lung-dryness)

Overcoming rage (Liver-wind) with joy (Heart-heat)

The Yellow Emporers Medicine Classic pp 203-213 Asiapac Books 981-3068-28-0

*The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emporer p 11 by Zhu Ming 7-119-02664-X

Since every Element is connected to every other Element through Promotion or

Inhibition these " overcomings " must be dependent on the disharmony pattern

of an individual: Hence, what may work for one person may not be effective

for another person. I also find it difficult to see any of these emotions in

themselves as negative (or positive) the weight they posses must depend on

whether they are in balance / excess / deficiency for an individual.

It follows that in some circumstances anger may be used to shift obsession

whilst in other circumstances anger may be used to shift worry. It is

interesting to note other relations too, in the 5-Phases that are in line

with clinical experience in the west. So for example sorrow (Lung-dryness)

can back-up and obstruct (Spleen-dampness) leading to obsessive - compulsive

behaviour. A classic case is where trauma - shock - fright cab lead to

psychosis : Ki >> Ht. Just some thoughts to add to what Atti was saying. I

wonder if there is a TCM book on psychoanalysis ?

Sammy.

[attiliodalberto]

02 September 2003 11:02

Chinese Medicine

Negative thoughts 'make you ill'

Taken from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3198935.stm

Having negative thoughts really could make you more illness-prone,

say scientists.

A study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences links " negative " brain activity with a weakened immune

system.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied people

with high levels of brain activity in a region linked to negative

thoughts.

Those with the highest activity levels responded worse to a flu

vaccine.

Scientists already knew that pessimists - people rated as more

sensitive to negative events - show more activity in a part of the

brain called the right pre-frontal cortex.

More activity in the left pre-frontal cortex is linked to positive

emotional responses.

Happy thoughts

Dr Richard Davidson, who led the research, studied 52 people aged

between 57 and 60.

Each of them was asked to recall one event which made them feel very

happy, and one which left them feeling sad, afraid or angry.

The electrical activity in these parts of the brain was measured to

check whether their left or right pre-frontal cortex was more active.

Afterwards, each volunteer was given a standard flu vaccine shot.

Vaccines work by eliciting an immune response which should hopefully

persist and help the body tackle a genuine infection threat if it

should arrive.

Each research subject was tested over the following six months to

gauge the success of the vaccine by measuring the levels of

antibodies generated by the vaccine.

Those who had shown the most powerful right pre-frontal cortex

activity also had the worst immune reactions.

The reverse was true for those who had the most powerful reactions in

their left pre-frontal cortex, the side associated with happy

reactions.

Dr Davidson said: " Emotions play an important role in modulating

bodily systems that influence our health.

" We turned to the brain to understand the mechanisms by which the

mind influences the body. "