The Seven emotions are harmful internal influences which affect the specific organs. These originated in the Liji (3rd century B.C.E) but have evolved throughout history to include lists of five, six and seven emotions (Fruehauf, 2006). The first medical descriptions come from a series of statements in the Su Wen ch. 5:
"Joy and anger harm the Qi (喜怒傷氣) ...
Violent anger harms the Yin (暴怒傷陰);
Violent joy harms the Yang (暴喜傷陽).
...
Anger harms the Liver (怒傷肝); sadness overcomes anger (悲勝怒) ...
Joy harms the Heart (喜傷心); fear overcomes joy (恐勝喜) ...
Pensiveness harms the Spleen (思傷脾); anger dominates pensiveness (怒勝思) ...
Sorrow harms the Lung (憂傷肺); joy dominates sorrow (喜勝憂) ...
Fear harms the Kidneys (恐傷腎); pensiveness dominates fear (思勝恐)."
This introduces a simple attribution of emotions to elements and their corresponding organs, along with a basic notion of emotions harming the essential substances of
Qi,
Yin and
Yang. It is later modified in
Su Wen ch. 39 which adds a sixth emotion and a theory that specific emotions cause the
Qi to move in a particular direction:
"When one is angry [怒 : Nu], then the Qi rises.
When one is joyous [喜 : Xi], then the Qi relaxes.
When one is sad [悲 : Bei], then the Qi dissipates.
When one is in fear [恐 : Kong], then the Qi moves down...
When one is frightened [驚 : Jing], then the Qi is in disorder...
When one is pensive [思 : Si], then the Qi lumps together."
These theories can be united by considering that a persistent movement of
Qi can harm the Organ that is most affected by that particular movement.
- The Liver belongs to Wood, related to expansion. When functioning correctly, its gentle and flexible nature enables us to exert our creative will upon the world in compassionate and benevolent ways (仁, Ren). If this is obstructed, and the Wood Qi cannot expand, its only route is to rise. Rising is the nature of Fire, the child of Wood, causing it to manifest as blazing anger.
- The Heart belongs to the Fire element which houses the Shen, the Sovereign and overarching concept of Spirit/Mind within which the others are contained. The upwards motion of Fire stands for the upright nature of the ruler who acts with propriety (禮, Li), stern but fair. Joy relaxes the Qi which can be helpful in relieving constraint (i.e. Metal excess), but in excess creates a licentious ruler with no discipline leading to weakness and unruliness amongst all the emotions.
- The Spleen belongs to Earth, the central element. Its mental function is intention (意 Yi), but also a homophone for "one" (一 Yi) implying the ability to keep the mind focused, giving thoughts integrity (信 Xin). However, centrality can also mean a lack of movement, so when one focuses excessively on a single train of thought, the Qi knots, and the mind cannot stop thinking.
- The Lung and Large Intestine belong to the Metal element, related to contraction. When functioning correctly, this contraction expels old air, faeces and urine from these organs, allowing the subsequent expanding motion of Wood to draw in the new. In mental terms this relates to attachment and our ability to let go, giving us the capacity for selflessness (嶷 Yi) . Excessive attachment to temporal things makes us resist this function and instead of compressing to release the old and stale, the Qi disperses, resulting in a self-indulgent sorrow.
- The Kidneys belong to the Water element. The Dao De Jing reminds us that Water flows downwards (ch. 8) and eventually finds clarity if allowed to clear (ch. 15), so the mental property of Water is tranquility, through which the Will (志 Zhi) can function and true wisdom (智 Zhi) can be attained. When fear causes Qi to descend, the Water is disturbed and tranquility is lost.
- Fright is unique among the classical emotions because it is not related to any single element but causes Qi to become chaotic resulting in fight, flight or freeze responses. This can be attributed to the Pericardium, which as the Heart Protector, is responsible for absorbing external threats which may harm the Heart. The Pericardium shares the function of controlling Blood with the Heart, and is also paired elementally with the San Jiao which contains all the Organs and by the Six Divisions with the Liver, which regulates Qi, hence its disruption causes chaos in the entire system resulting in panic.
To these is added
憂 You which can be translated as anxiety, worry, fear, concern, sorrow, trouble, grief, distress or sadness and is probably the closest to our catch-all term of "stress" to make seven. It has a similar effect to sorrow in making the
Qi disperse and affecting the Heart and Lung.
An additional complication is added in the Ling Shu ch. 8 which tackles excess and deficiency in each of the organs, but emotions are attributed only to the Heart and Liver:
"Liver Qi deficiency leads to fear [恐 : Kong]; excess leads to anger [怒 : Nu] ...
Heart Qi deficiency leads to sorrow [悲 : Bei]; excess leads to unceasing laughter [笑不休 : Xiao Bu Xiu]."
It goes on to make some special statements about particular organs:
- "Boundless happiness and joy (喜樂無極) will harm the Po
- When the Po is harmed, this will result in madness (狂)
- Those who are mad have no intentions towards others (意不存人)."
- "If worry and anxiety (愁憂) fail to be resolved, this harms the Intention (意)
- If the Intention is harmed, this results in confusion (悗亂)
- They will be unable to lift the four limbs."
- "Fearful thinking (怵惕思虑) will harm the Spirit (神)
- Once the Spirit is harmed there will be fear (恐懼) of losing oneself (自失)."
- "Pervasive rage (盛怒) that fails to end will harm the Will (志)
- Once the Will is harmed, they forget what they just said
- Their lower back and spine can no longer be bent and stretched"
- "When fear (恐懼) is not resolved, this will harm the Essence (精)
- Once Essence is harmed then the bones will weaken, lose their function and recede.Occasionally the Essence will lower spontaneously."
- "When grief and sorrow (悲哀) stir the center (動中), this will harm the Hun
- When the Hun is harmed, they will be mad (狂), forgetful (忘) and have no Essence (不精)
- Without Essence they will not act properly (不正). The male genital shrinks (人陰縮) and their Sinews cramp (攣筋). Their ribs in their flanks will not raise [to breathe]."
This makes a much more complex picture where the emotion represented does not always accord with the simple associations given in the
Su Wen. However, when their Five Phase relationships are considered, then some of these attributions become clear:
- An Excess in the Heart causing Joy which harms the 魄 Po can occur via the Ko cycle (Excess Fire over-controlling Metal). The relaxing nature of Fire given in Su Wen ch. 39 counteracts the contracting function of Metal.
- A Deficiency of Heart Qi can lead to Fire failing to control Metal and its subsequent suppression of Wood and the 魂 Hun through the Ko cycle (Metal overcoming Wood).
- An Excess Liver Qi results in anger, which draws from its Mother, the Kidneys, in order to fuel its rage. The Qi from anger rises, away from the Kidneys which are situated in the Lower Jiao, resulting in Kidney Deficiency with weakness of the Will and a painful back.
- A Deficient Liver Qi fails to expand in the world, with timidity and fearful thinking. The downward motion of fearful Qi leads to Excess Water Qi that then overcomes Fire through the Ko cycle, while the deficiency of Wood is also transferred onto its Child, Fire, through the Sheng cycle, leading to the Spirit being harmed.
- Worry and anxiety knot the Qi in the centre, disrupting the smooth transformations essential for a healthy Qi dynamic and causing confusion in all mental functions.
- Grief and sorrow cause the dissipation of Qi and typically affects the Lung and Metal element. Deficiency of Metal results in a failure to nourish Water and control Wood resulting in harm to the Hun and Jing. In addition, the dissipated Qi forces the body to use Jing reserves to compensate. Finally, the disruption of the Metal-Wood balance disrupts the expansion and contraction dynamic essential to Qi function with the uncontrolled Liver-Wood overcoming the Spleen-Earth, "stirring the centre," which then further fails to nourish the Lungs-Metal.
The unifying theory is that emotions may all originate from the Heart and Liver, but the state of these Organs causes the
Qi to move in particular directions which ends up affecting particular
Zang through one of the Five Phase relationships. These are often a triangular relationship where an excess overcomes its subordinate, which then fails to nourish its child, who cannot then control the original excess; or conversely, an essential deficiency which therefore cannot nourish its child or control its subordinate, leading to a breakdown in the dynamic that results in further deficiency. To determine the effect of emotions it is therefore necessary to evaluate the emotion using its effects on
Qi movement and the dynamics of the Five Phase relationships in relation to the symptom presentation and history.
Herbal Medicine
Qi Qing 七情 is also used to describe the seven types of interaction herbs may have with each other. These are:
- Single Effect (单行 dan xing)
A balanced herb that can be used alone, e.g.:
- Mutual Accentuation (相須 xiang xu)
The combination of two herbal substances with similar functions will accentuate their therapeutic actions, e.g.:
- Mutual Enhancement (相使 xiang shi)
The combination of two or more substances with different actions in which one of the substances enhances the effect of the other in a specific clinical situation, e.g.:
- Mutual Counteraction (相畏 xiang wei)
Literally "mutual fear" and refers to a combination in which the toxicity or side effects of one substance are reduced or eliminated by another, e.g.:
- Mutual Suppression (相杀 xiang sha)
Literally "mutual killing" and is same as Mutual Counteraction but focusing on the herb that performs the beneficial suppressive action, e.g.:
- Mutual Antagonism (相恶 xiang wu)
Literally "mutual aversion" and refers to the ability of two substances to neutralise each herb's positive effects. Traditionally, there are eight pairs and one trio of substances that have mutually antagonistic effects on each other known as the "nineteen antagonisms" (十九畏 shi jiu wei). These are:
- Mutual Incompatibility (相恶 xiang fan)
Literally "mutual opposition" and occurs when the combination of two substances causes side effects or toxicity which would not be caused by any one of the substances if used alone. Traditionally there are three sets or a total of eighteen substances called the "eighteen incompatibilities" (十八反 shi ba fan). These are:
Gan Cao with:All forms of Wu Tou, including Fu Zi, Cao Wu and Chuan Wu with:Li Lu with:
