Traditional Chinese medicine considers that any of the seven emotions, if too intense, will harm the mind, affect health and reduce longevity. The book Ling Shu says,
“Apprehensions and anxieties may injure the mind, thus making people weak and emaciated, with dried hair and pallid countenance.”;
“Continuous worry and anxiety may injure intention”, which leads to “debility of the limbs”;
“Sorrow injures the soul, thus causing the decline of Yin and convulsion”;
“Excessive joy may injure the spirit, leading to the withering of the hair” ;
“Excessive anger may injure the will, making it difficult for the spinal column to bend and stretch”;
“Being in terror for long may injure the primordial energy, leading to debility of the bones” ,
All these indicate clearly that an excess of any of the seven emotions may injure not only the mind but also the physique. Spirit is the embodiment of the living activities of human beings, as Peng Zu once said, “Those who have vigorous spirit will live longer”, while “those whose minds are injured will die young.” The ancients also realized that injury of the mind would be the precursor of some diseases. Sun Simiao said, ” Anger injures the Qi and the weakened Qi will be followed by disease, ”
The book Ymg Sheng Lun also points out, “Unrefrained excitement and anger may injure the vital energy.” This shows that once the mind is injured, the vital energy will decline, and then exopathogen is likely to invade the body, resulting in various diseases.
The injury of the mind will seriously affect the health, so the ancients took great care of the mind by preventing extremes of any of the seven emotions. The book Suo Sui Lu says, ”Excessive sorrow or joy must be avoided/The book She Sheng Si Yao believes, ” Less thinking can help nourish the mind.” Traditional Chinese medicine has proposed the methods of spirit recuperation, including optimism, less anxiety and lust, refrainment from joy and anger, abstention from too much thinking and worrying and avoidance of terror. All the above methods are useful to prevent the mind from being injured.
Tags: irritability, Nei Jing, TCM