-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
musculoskeletal system
myofibrositis/adhesions
psychospiritual approaches

metaphors and correlations

• Stiffness represents thinking in a rigid, stiff manner. (Hay, 1984, p. 184)
• Inflammation: fear; inflamed thinking; seeing red; anger and frustration about conditions in one's life. (Hay, 1984, p. 170-1)
• Chronic pain syndrome develops as a result of having chronically negative attitudes and/or unconscious emotional response mechanisms that keep a person continually in stress. Chronic attitude problems are so much a part of a person's self-image that he or she does not recognize them as separate from the personality. Nothing is more difficult to identify than our assumed 'natural' ways of being in the world that are essentially patterns we have developed to help us cope. Certain body parts susceptible to chronic negative patterns include the spine, the stomach (as in ulcers), and the head (tension and migraine headaches). (Shealy, p. 256-266)

Chinese psychophysiology:
Liver ~ Gan is the home of the Hun (Ethereal Soul); it relates to decisiveness, control, and the principle of emergence; stores and cleanses the Xue (Blood); maintains smooth flow of Qi and Xue (Blood); controls the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, especially the contractility of the muscles and moistening of the sinews; and reflects emotional harmony and movement.
» Healthy expressions are kindness, spontaneity, and ease of movement.
» Liver Xu (Deficiency) signs include impotence; frigidity; pain in thighs, pelvic region, and throat; ready tendency to "the blahs" (Seem, p. 28); timidity; depression; irritability; vertigo; pruritus; dry eyes, skin, and/or tendons; asthma; aching at the waist; hernia; and difficulty raising head up and down. Liver Xue Xu (Blood Deficiency) predisposes to Xue Yu (Blood Stasis).
» Liver Qi Stagnation reflects and accentuates emotional constraint as the Liver's function of facilitating smooth flow in the body is constricted. Stagnation is associated with frustration, irritability, tension, and feeling stuck. With time this pattern tends to produce a gloomy emotional state of constant resentment, repressed anger or depression, along with tightness in the chest, frequent sighing, abdominal tension or distension, and/or a feeling of a lump in the throat with difficulty in swallowing. (Maciocia, p. 216) Xue Yu (Blood Stasis) often begins with Qi Stagnation.

Gall Bladder ~ Dan is the source of courage and initiative, and is responsible for decision-making as the bodily Minister of Justice; controls circulation of the nourishing and protecting energies [Ying Qi and Wei (Protective) Qi]; and expresses itself through the sinews (ligaments and tendons). Its channel purifies Yang energy in the body.
» Healthy expressions are kindness, decisiveness, control, and spirit of initiative.
» Gall Bladder Xu (Deficiency) signs include insomnia; wandering pains; chest and side pains; swollen breasts (Seem, p. 29); weakness in muscles and tendons of the legs; difficulty standing; asthenia; vertigo; chills; timidity; cowardice; indecisiveness; and excessive sighing.


therapies

imagery:
• Go into pain, and see, hear, feel what happens (pressure, pulling, rigidity) and follow to symbolic meaning. (Bry, p. 76)
• beaver dammed (Chavez): liver-related tension

affirmation:
• (Inflammation) My thinking is peaceful, calm, and centered. I am willing to change all patterns of criticism. I love and approve of myself. (Hay, 1984, p. 170-1)
• I am safe enough to be flexible in my mind. (Hay, 1984, p. 184)

psychotherapy:
• Those who are prone to inflammations are attempting to avoid conflicts. The following questions may be useful:
» What conflict in my life am I failing to see? hear? feel? move?
» What conflict am I dodging?
» What conflict am I failing to admit to? (Dethlefsen, p. 108)

process paradigm: (experientially oriented)
• What is the symptom preventing me from doing? What is the symptom making me do? (related materia medica listings: musculoskeletal system interview)

related materia medica listings:
the shadow and physical symptoms
body reveals: the spirit
converting a symptom to a signal
state-dependent learning
affirmations: guidelines and precautions
process paradigm


footnotes

Reprinted from The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, Maciocia, Giovanni, 1989, by permission of the publisher Churchill Livingstone, a division of Elsevier Limited.