Soothing The Troubled Mind

This translation of a Chinese text published in 1987 provides a window on the practical philosophy of modern Chinese medical scholars and clinicians, as well as insight into the historical development of psychology in China. Although schizophrenia is more common than many widely-discussed illneses, most people know far less about it. This fascinating book about how schizophrenia is perceived, experienced, and treated in another culture advances our understanding of one of humankind's great afflictions.

The text introduces the varieties of schizophrenia according to the parameters of Western biomedical understanding. Since in Chinese traditional medicine disorders of this type are considered to be the result of invasion by one or more of the six environmental evils, attention is given to an exposition of these factors, as well as to two additional categories of cause, damage from intemperance of the seven affects (joy, anger, anxiety, thought, sorrow, fear, and fright), and miscellaneous factors including inherited and fetal pathoconditions.

The authors detail Western biomedical diagnosis and the essentials of Chinese differential diagnosis. Treatment protocols for each condition are provided, including techniques such as electro-stimulation, large needle and deep puncture techniques, as well as facial, ear and scalp acupuncture. Fluid injection therapy, point suture embedding therapy, point grasping and cupping therapy, vessel pricking and laser therapy, and co-therapy with Chinese and/or Western drugs are also discussed.

Soothing the Troubled Mind: Treatment and Prevention of Schizophrenia with Acupuncture was originally intended for practitioners of T.C.M. in mainland China as an introduction to schizophrenia from the Western perspective as well as a review of the T.C.M. treatments used in treating not just schizophrenia, but all mental diseases. The central focus of this book is just the utility of acupuncture and T.C.M. in treating mental diseases, but also an examination of the best way to apply the treatments. Besides providing a thorough review of historical treatments, it has a fascinating section on combining treatments. For example, the book discusses how an expensive drug or a treatment with severe side effects can be used at much lower doses when supplemented by acupuncture or other traditional Chinese treatments. The results claims are truly worthy of exploration. Though there will arguably be controversies stirred by a close reading of this book, its basic message is that Chinese medicine has much to offer the future of psychiatric medicine. It is a message the authors deliver with convincing clarity.

Despite the enormous interest in the western world in the application of Chinese medicine for mental and emotional disorders, there are few textbooks devoted specifically to this subject, especially ones based on sound clinical experience. This book was published in 1987 by unnamed "Authors" from Hangzhou and is a fairly thorough examination of schizophrenia from both a western and Chinese medical perspective. There is some satisfying material on the traditional understanding of mental disorders (principally dian-kuang) in Chinese medicine, with quotations and opinions from many doctors through the ages. For example Li Chan of the Ming dynasty is quoted as follows:

Mania patients are ferociously mad. In mild cases they act self-important and self-righteous, they like to sing and like to dance; in more serious cases [patients] throw off their clothes and run amok, climb walls and mount the roof. In even more serious cases [patients may] beat their head [against a wall] and scream, be negligent around fire and water, or can have inclinations to murder. This naturally results from inordinate exuberance of the heart fire, superabundance of yang qi, the spirit failing to keep to its abode, and phlegm-fire congestion and exuberance. The crux of treating mania is to descend phlegm and downbear fire.

Li Chan further said

When a patient sees, hears, speaks, and acts absurdly, it is said to be due to the activity of evil spirits. This is just qi and blood in extreme vacuity, the spirit and will in insufficiency, or else it is complicated by phlegm-fire obstructing and dominating, so that the spirit is confused and unsettled. It is not really the work of ghosts and demons.

The process of the formation of phlegm and its relationship to mania is poetically described by Zhang Cong Zheng of the Jin dynasty [When the liver] constantly plans, and the gallbladder s constantly indecisive, by being bent over without stretching, and holding anger that is not discharged, the heart blood grows dryer by the day. Spleen humor does not move, and phlegm then confounds the orifices of the heart, forming heart wind. Subsequent chapters discuss the symptomatology and clinical classification of schizophrenia, its diagnosis and differential diagnosis and its prevention. The chapter on prevention is mainly devoted to traditional Chinese approaches to moderating the emotions, with additional and valuable sections on the importance of treating insomnia and of promoting strong social and familial networks.

The treatment section emphasises acupuncture with some further suggestions for herbal medicine formulas. Point and herbal prescriptions are given for mania (kuang) and withdrawal (dian), as well as symptomatic prescriptions for auditory and visual hallucinations, excessive speech, insomnia etc. The authors place considerable emphasis on good needle technique, especially directing the qi and applying supplementing and draining manipulation as appropriate. There are several case histories, reports on the available research into the acupuncture treatment of schizophrenia, classical acupuncture prescriptions, traditional psychological therapy, electroacupuncture, ear acupuncture, scalp acupuncture etc.

To conclude, this is a useful book for any practitioner willing and able to take on the treatment of serious and difficult emotional disorders.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FOREWORD
TRANSLATOR S PREFACE
AUTHORS PREFACE

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
I. Invasions of the Six Environmental Excesses
II. Damage from Intemperance of the Seven Affects
III. Other Factors
l.Qi and Blood
2.Phlegm and Fire

CHAPTER TWO: CLINICAL SYMPTOMATOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATIONS
I. Clinical Symptomatology
1. Thought Disorders
2. Emotional Disorders
3. Disorders of Volition
4. Perceptual Disorders
II. Clinical Classifications
1. Simple-Type Schizophrenia
2. Hebephrenic-Type Schizophrenia
3. Catatonic-Type Schizophrenia
4. Paranoid-Type Schizophrenia

CHAPTER THREE: ESSENTIALS OF DIFFERENTIAL DTAGNOSIS
I. Compiling the Medical History
II. Psychological Examination
III. Differential Diagnosis
1. Manic-Depressive Syndrome
2. Reactive Psychosis
3. Neuroses
4. Epileptic Psychosis
5. Symptomatic Psychosis
6. Climacteric Psychosis
7. Senile Psychosis
8. Cerebral Arteriosclerotic Psychosis

CHAPTER FOUR: PREVENTION
I. Creating a Healthy Mental Lifestyle
II. Maintaining the Central Nervous System
1. Maintaining a Balanced Lifestyle
2. Sleep and Treatments for Insomnia
3. Fatigue and Its Prevention
4. Employing Active Rest
III. Emphasis on Early Diagnosis and Treatment

CHAPTER FIVE: TREATMENTS FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA
I. Treatments Based on the Authors' Experience
1. Treatments for Mania Disease Type
2. Treatment for Withdrawal Disease Type
3. Symptomatic Treatments for Withdrawal and Mania Patterns
4. Improving Clinical Effectiveness in Acupuncture
II. Treatments Based on Classical Treatises
1. Classical Acupuncture Therapy for Mania Disease
2. Classical Acupuncture Therapy for Withdrawal Disease
3. Other Ancient Methods
III. Treatments Gathered from Modern Chinese Reports

1. Overview
2. Simple Acupuncture Therapy .
3. Five-Person Acupuncture Therapy
4. Large Needle (Spine Needling) Therapy
5. Electroacupunture ~
6. Auricular Acupuncture
7. Scalp Acupuncture
8. Fluid Injection Therapy
9. Acupuncture Point Suture-Embedding Therapy
10. Point Grasping and Cupping Therapy
11. Vessel Pricking Therapy and Laser Therapy
IV. Psychological Therapies for Schizophrenia
1. Working to Gain the Patient's Trust
2. Competence at Openly Observing the Thoughts and Feelings of a Variety of Patients
3. Initiating Work Where the Patient is Engaged
4. Developing an Adaptable Style
V. Other Measures
1. Chinese Medicinal Agents in Combined Therapy
2. Acupuncture in Combined Therapy

CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUDING REMARKS

CHINESE BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX