-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
mental/emotional
fear
psychospiritual approaches

metaphors and correlations

• Fear is the basis of all illness. Fear necessitates the early childhood adaptations which result in illness. We are afraid to take responsibility for ourselves, to trust the grownup part of us to take care of the child in all of us. (Harrison, p. 277)
• Chronic fear is associated with disturbance in kidney function which may manifest in puffy eyes and blue discoloration around the eyes. It is also associated with scaly and inflamed skin on the side of the nose. (Harrison, p. 77)
• The voice of a person who's chronically afraid will be wavering, apparently struggling against great odds to be heard, and the speech may begin and end abruptly. The breathing will be shallow and rapid, with little expansion of the chest wall. A feature of scared people is that they hunch their shoulders to hide their chest from view, as the heart is considered vulnerable. This further restricts the delivery of air to the vocal cords, whose movements already reflect the general indecision of the body musculature. (Harrison, p. 84)
• Fear of not being able to survive in the world is perhaps the greatest cause of illness. (Harrison, p. 181)
• An important characteristic of altered states is that many of them cannot be dealt with sufficiently without entering into them. At one end is consciousness and awareness, while at the other there is literally no control. Everyone's psychotic corner can be accessed by touching upon a central, mythical, painful issue. (Mindell, 1988, p. 164)
• "Extreme states are not purely random and meaningless pathological behaviors. Each has a highly ordered, almost mathematical, predictability. One goal of process paradigm has been to demonstrate that the cause-and-effect, illness-and-cure philosophy governing much of psychiatric research and treatment is not the only useful way of either observing or treating the effects of these syndromes. A process paradigm which studies the various channels of human expression and which deals concretely with both individual and collective issues, normal and extreme states, is sorely needed." (Mindell, 1988, p. 162)

Chinese psychophysiology:
Liver ~ Gan is the home of the Hun (Ethereal Soul); it relates to decisiveness, control, and the principle of emergence; maintains smooth flow of Qi and Xue (Blood); controls the muscles, especially their contractility; 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 skin and/or tendons; asthma; aching at the waist; hernia; and difficulty raising head up and down.

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]; expresses itself through the sinews (ligaments and tendons); and opens into the eyes. 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.
» Mental signs of Gall Bladder channel disorders associated with bitterness, lack of control, irritability, unfaithfulness, lack of courage, timidity, and hypochondria. (Seem, p. 28)

Heart ~ Xin houses the Shen (Spirit) and reveals itself through the brightness in the eyes; governs Fire; rules the Xue (Blood) and its vessels and directs the circulation; opens into the tongue and controls speech; and relates to the integration of the organs and the personality.
»
Healthy expressions are warmth, vitality, excitement, inner peace, love, and joy.
»
Heart Xu (Deficiency) signs include sadness; absence of laughter; depression; fear; anxiety; shortness of breath (Seem, p. 28); cold feeling in the chest and limbs; palpitations; cold sweat; inability to speak; memory failure; nocturnal emissions; and restless sleep.
» Heart Shi (Excess) signs include false or facile laughter; sobbing; agitated spirit; insomnia (Seem, p. 28); frightful dreams; anxiety; tongue feels numb and heavy; heavy chest; hot sweat; and orange-colored urine.
» The Heart is the Emperor of the bodily realm so that when the Heart is disturbed all the other organs will be disrupted.
» Mental signs of Heart channel disorders include insomnia, anxiety, and all Shen disturbances. (Seem, p. 27)

» Mental signs of Pericardium (Heart Protector) channel disorders associated with depression, sexual perversion, aversions, and phobias. (Seem, p. 28)

» Mental signs of Triple Warmer channel disorders associated with emotional upsets caused by breaking of friendships or family relations; depression; suspicion; anxiety; and poor elimination of harmful thoughts. (Seem, p. 28)

» Mental signs of Lung channel disorders associated with obsessions that are future directed (Excess); and a feeling of being vulnerable (Deficiency). (Seem, p. 27)

Kidney ~ Shen houses the Zhi (Will); expresses ambition and focus; directly expresses and is effected by fear (possibly through its inclusion of the adrenals and relationship to the sympathetic nervous system), and displays the effects of aging, chronic degenerative processes, and extreme stress; likewise any severe disturbance in the complementary relationship between the Kidney and Heart expresses itself in emotional dys-stress.
» Healthy expressions are gentleness, groundedness, and endurance.
» Kidney Xu (Deficiency) signs include indecisiveness; confused speech; dreams of trees submerged under water; cold feet and legs; abundant sweating (Seem, p. 28); hearing loss; fearfulness; apathy; chronic fatigue; discouragement; scatteredness; lack of will; negativity; impatience; difficult inhalation; low sex drive; lumbago; sciatica; and musculoskeletal irritation and inflammation, especially when worse from touch.
» Intense or prolonged fear depletes the Kidney. Often chronic anxiety may induce Xu (Deficiency) and then Fire within the Kidney. (Maciocia, p. 250) Overwork, parenting, simple aging, and a sedentary or excessively indulgent lifestyle all contribute significantly to Kidney Xu (Deficiency).
» Mental signs of Kidney channel disorders include anxiety; fear in the pit of the stomach; sadness; mental and physical fatigue; antisocial tendencies; and laziness. (Seem, p. 28)

Pang Guang ~ Chinese "Bladder" receives the "dirty" part of fluids after Small Intestine separates them from the "clean" fluids; is in charge of Qi transformation, i.e. transforming and excreting fluids by the power of Qi; and controls the storing of fluid.
» Fear, or more exactly fright, adversely effects the Bladder. In children, fear or insecurity leads to sinking of Qi in the Bladder resulting in nocturnal enuresis. In adults, Bladder disharmonies are often manifested with feelings of suspicion and jealousy over a long period of time. (Maciocia, p. 287-288)
» Bladder Xu (Deficiency) signs include lack of confidence; lethargy; neurological disorders; low sexual energy; incontinence (Seem, p. 29); epistaxis; frequent excessive urination; back pain; nocturnal enuresis; and fear.


therapies

imagery:
• Taueret journey: rebirth (Scully)
• Mut and crone journey (Scully)

hypnotherapy:
• 'affect bridge': 'Go back in time to when you last experienced that emotion.'
When a series of memories is recalled through this affect bridge, one arrives at the forgotten traumatic source of a personality problem that had previously been unavailable to the person. The affect bridge functions as a state-dependent pathway to the endocrine hormone-encoded source of a problem that can now be accessed and reframed therapeutically. (Rossi, 1986, p. 141)

process paradigm: (experientially oriented)
• What is the symptom preventing me from doing? What is the symptom making me do? (see process interview: psycho/neurological system)

related materia medica listings:
the shadow and physical symptoms
body reveals: the spirit
converting a symptom to a signal
state-dependent learning
exploratory or mechanistic?
subjective inquiry approach
anxiety and depression
imagery for anxiety and depression
behavior modification (see also systematic desensitization)
relaxation techniques (especially breathing)
imagery: precautions
imagery: techniques
affirmations: guidelines and precautions
hypnotherapy
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.