-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
digestive system
cirrhosis
psychospiritual approaches

metaphors and correlations

• Alcoholism: Feeling of futility, guilt, inadequacy; self-rejection. (Hay, 1984, p. 151)
• Liver is seat of anger and primitive emotions. Problems have to do with chronic complaining; justifying fault-finding to deceive yourself; feeling bad. (Hay, 1984, p. 173)

Chinese psychophysiology:
Spleen ~ Pi governs digestion and manifests in the muscle tissues; governs the Xue (Blood); resolves Dampness; and relates to the ability to assimilate, stabilize, and feel balanced and centered.
» Healthy expressions are fairness, openness, deep thinking, and reminiscence; » Spleen Xu (Deficiency) signs include slightness (deficient "form"); abundant elimination; morning fatigue; cold, wet feet (Seem, p. 28); abdomen taut and distended like a drum; craving for sweets; flatulence; nausea; mild edema; memory failure; heavy feeling in legs; easy bruising; pale lips; loose stools; muscular weakness; and, indirectly, obesity.
» The excessive use of the mind in thinking, studying, concentrating, and memorizing over a long period of time tends to weaken the Spleen and may lead to Xue Yu (Blood Stasis). This also includes excessive pensiveness and constant brooding. (Maciocia, p. 241) Likewise, inadequate physical exercise, overexposure to external Dampness, and excess consumption of sweet and/or Cold foods will also deplete the Spleen.

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); reflects emotional harmony and movement; opens into the eyes; and expresses itself in the fingernails, toenails and 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 Xue Xu (Blood Deficiency) predisposes to Xue Yu (Blood Stasis) and Xue (Blood) Heat.
» 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.


therapies

imagery:
• liver and eagle (Chavez)
• beaver dammed (Chavez)

affirmation:
(Alcoholism)
• I now rediscover how wonderful I am.
• I choose to love and enjoy myself. (Hay, 1984, p. 150)

• Love and peace and joy are what I know.
• I choose to live through the open space in my heart.
• I look for love and find it everywhere. (Hay, 1984, p. 173)

psychotherapy:
• Questions of interest for those suffering from a liver problem:
» In what areas have I lost my capacity for accurate assessment and evaluation?
» In what respects can I no longer distinguish between what is good for me and what is 'poisonous'?
» Where have I been taking things to excess? To what extent am I aiming too high (delusions of grandeur) and generally going beyond the limit?
» Am I lacking in confidence? decisiveness? (Dethlefsen, p. 140)

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

related materia medica listings:
the shadow and physical symptoms
converting a symptom to a signal
imagery: precautions
imagery: techniques
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.