Anxiety, also referred to angst or hysteria, goes by many names. One, popularized by the sagacious Zhang Zhong Jing, who many practitioners of Chinese Medicine may be familiar with, is known as Restless Zang/Fu disorder. Anxiety disorders which include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and a myriad of phobias, are the most common mental illness in the U.S. They affect more than 40 million adults, which is around 18% of the population.1 Failure to treat anxiety and other mental problems costs the global economy $1 trillion each year.2 Treating anxiety takes up more than one-third of the total mental health bill in the U.S.
The BioMedical Diagnosis
Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors that include genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.2 Environmental factors, medical factors and substance abuse also contribute to the development of anxiety.
The Chinese Medical Diagnosis
The Spiritual Pivot, chapter 8 states that, "Life comes about through the essence; when the two essences (of mother and father) unite, they form the mind." Within this concept of the formation of the mind exists Yin and Yang. The two divisions of the mind are the psychophysical aspects Di (Earth body mind) and the Tian (Heaven consciousness mind). The three levels of the mind are the superficial level of the Yi/Yang (intention-spleen-thinking mind) and Zhi/Yin (will-kidneys-thinking body), the middle level of the mind of the Hun/Yang (ethereal soul-Liver) and Po/Yin (corporeal soul-Lungs) and the deepest level of the mind the Yuan Shen which includes the Shen/Spirit/Yang (Heart-fire Qi) and the Jing/Essence/Yin (Kidneys-water Qi).
The mental and emotional transitional states of the mind are further subdivided into the Shen Mind Spirit complex of the Congenital Spirit/Prenatal Mind and the Acquired Spirit/Postnatal Mind. The Prenatal mind (Yuan Shen), which is created from the Jing, Qi and Shen of both parents, controls the five viscera organs and deep imprints activities of the spiritual energetics of the human. The postnatal mind (Shen Zhi) stems from the interactions of people, places and things after birth. This mind is responsible for thought and engages in limitless mental activities. The Shen Zhi, also called the monkey mind, creates difficulty for the Yuan Shen to relay intuitive information on a spiritual and energetic basis.
The Shen Zhi is known to be extremely stubborn, skeptical and doubtful of one's innate (yuan shen) abilities. Its alarming activity creates discord and works to control the development of the Yuan Shen causing a myriad of mental disturbances including anxiety. "The mind must be led by a master; the Yuan Shen must be that master and must lead the Heart's Shen Zhi as One Mind." It is therefore of utmost import to regulate the activities of the analytical mind (Zhi) and intuitive mind (Yuan) to have harmony in one's mental lifestyle.3
Anxiety Treatment
Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet): according to Chapter 22 it is stated that, "Women suffering from anxiety are affected by sadness and crying (restless organ syndrome), they are like lost souls [shen ling] and yawn frequently: utilize GAN MAI DA ZAO WAN (JIA WEI).6 Initially the aforementioned formula was recommended for women with restless zang fu disorder, formerly known in the gynecological world as hysteria. However, in these modern times, we know this term hysteria literally can translate into anxiety, which of course extends to men and children as well.
As one of the most effective formulas in Canonical Chinese Medicine used when a patient has constitutional weakness, deficiency, depression, moodiness, frequent melancholy, crying, sadness, frequent yawning, restless sleep with possible sweating, it has the ability to pacify the emotion of anxiety with power and profundity. The Ingredients of Gan Mai Da Zao Tang are as follows: licorice, unripe wheat and jujube (Gan Cao, Fu Xiao Mai, and Da Zao). These three ingredients blend to form a remarkable formula that should be considered and studied by all Chinese Medicine practitioners, especially here in the land of anxiety. Let's take a look at these herbs more closely.
Gan Cao, Latin: Radix Glycyrrhizae, Properties: Sweet, Neutral, (Qty: 9 grams) Licorice is known to be mild and harmonious to all 12 organs of the body mainly by augmenting the spleen/stomach networks which regulate digestive disorders and diminish pain. Fu Xiao Mai, Latin: Fructus Levis Tritici Aestivo, Properties: Sweet, Salty, Cool (Qty: 9-15 grams) Fu Xiao Mai stops excessive sweating in patterns of deficiency, night sweats, sleep hyperhidrosis, sweat problems, insomnia, irritability and bedwetting. It is the unripe wheat grain, gluten without the digestive concerns known to wheat gluten sensitive patients. Da Zao, Latin: Fructus Zizyphi Jujubae, Properties: Sweet, Warm (Qty: 10 pieces) Chinese date augments the spleen and stomach, qi and nourishes the blood, calms restlessness in the spirit and emotional disturbances as it harmonizes the other herbs. The current information age has created a sense of knowledge unparalleled in the recent past as a society as a whole. However in this knowing, have we not also produced a bunch of over thinkers and extreme worry warts? Have we not possibly, accelerated our own aging process due to the worrying?
This is not to say that worry within some framework of balance has its place, for example a 14-year-old trying to make curfew. However, in this process to "problem solve" have we neglected the non-religious idea of having faith in the process?
Normally, when simplifying our lives, we relax and find a better understanding which may include wisdom in this unified life process. We may also find that when the worry stops, because of doubting the "process," life proceeds according to its perfection.
References:
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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