-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
mental/emotional
anger
psychospiritual approaches
metaphors and correlations
Anger will often produce a distinct body shape; a tight, muscular body with little fluidity, often the shape of a professional sports person. (Harrison, p. 79)
Much anger, apparently expressed in response to an immediate stimulus, is in fact old anger left over from previous incidents. (Harrison, p. 221)
Fear may be underlying anger. (Harrison, p. 222)
Chronic anger manifests itself in the jawline; when one yells through clenched teeth, the anger bounces off the teeth and goes down the throat where it creates internal problems. To release the anger in the jaw it is necessary to open the mouth wide and stretch the jaw. (Harrison, p. 76)
Stored up anger may be shown in flushed face and red margins around the eyes. (Harrison, p. 75)
Aggression which finds no outlet transforms itself into bodily pain; that which is suppressed at the psychological level leads to depression. (Dethlefsen, p. 231)
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)
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; reflects emotional harmony and movement; opens into the eyes; and expresses itself in the nervous system.
» 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. Liver Yin Xu (Deficiency) predisposes to the Shi (Excess) conditions of Liver Wind, Liver Yang Rising, and Liver Fire Blazing.
» 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)
» Liver Shi (Excess) signs include discontent; anger; pain in lumbar region and genitals (Seem, p. 28); muscular tension; excessive sex drive; insomnia; moodiness; excitability; genital diseases; red, tearing eyes; compulsive energy; and bitter taste in the mouth. Chronically suppressed anger can implode and give rise to Fire in the Liver and Gall Bladder with symptoms of irritability, bitter taste, headaches, etc.
» Mental signs of Liver channel disorders include irritability; difficulty developing ideas; depression; and lack of energy. (Seem, p. 28)
Gall Bladder ~ Dan is the source of courage and initiative, and is responsible for decision-making as the bodily Minister of Justice. Its channel purifies Yang energy in the body.
» Healthy expressions are kindness, decisiveness, control, and spirit of initiative.
» Gall Bladder Shi (Excess) signs include tiredness; sighing; irritability; bitter taste in the mouth in the morning; pain in all joints; edematous knees and legs (Seem, p. 29); tinnitus; lateral headache; heaviness in head and stomach; muscular spasms; and limbs slightly cold. Chronically suppressed anger can implode and give rise to Fire in the Liver and Gall Bladder.
» Anger, frustration, and resentment can cause Liver Qi Stagnation which, in turn, can produce Heat which affects the Gall Bladder.
» Mental signs of Gall Bladder channel disorders include bitterness; lack of control; irritability; unfaithfulness; lack of courage; timidity; and hypochondria. (Seem, p. 28)
Mental signs of Triple Warmer channel disorders include emotional upsets caused by breaking of friendships or family relations; depression; suspicion; anxiety; poor elimination of harmful thoughts. (Seem, p. 28)
therapies
imagery:
liver and eagle (Chavez): liver
beaver dammed (Chavez): liver
behavior modification:
Cognitive theme of anger is blame. Intervention is aimed at detecting, refuting, and replacing negative interpretations that are habitually made regarding other's behaviors, i.e. one's defensive response to criticism. (Fanning, p. 174)
imagery:
anger strangle (Chavez)
reparenting (Fanning, p. 180)
see through anger (Chavez)
Taueret journey: rebirth (Scully)
related materia medical listings: imagery for anxiety and depression
theotherapy:
Achilles, Atreus, Furies, Great Mother, Hera, Odysseus, Poseidon, Sirens, Typhon (Lemesurier, p. 87, 112)
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)
see also:
the shadow and physical symptoms
body reveals: the spirit
converting a symptom to a signal
anxiety and depression
subjective inquiry approach
state-dependent learning
imagery: precautions
imagery: techniques
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.