🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Emotions refer to the seven human feelings: joy, anger, worry, thought, sorrow, fear, and shock. Everything has dual aspects—beneficial and harmful. Similarly, emotional fluctuations can be advantageous or detrimental. As *Yangxing Yanzhong Lu* states: “Uncontrolled joy and anger cause harm.” *Sanyin Ji Yi Bingzheng Fang Lun* formally lists joy, anger, worry, thought, sorrow, fear, and shock as internal causes of disease. Yet normally, emotional activities coordinate physiological functions and do not cause illness. Everyone experiences emotions and desires—emotional responses are normal physiological reactions to external and internal stimuli, beneficial to mental and physical health.
Psychological activities are collectively termed “emotions” or “feelings” in TCM—innate comprehensive responses when humans encounter and perceive objective reality. Rational psychological care is a crucial aspect of health, holding significant value in life. Since ancient times, it has drawn human attention. Even during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, philosophers offered insightful discussions. Among them, *Guanzi’s* “Neiye” chapter stands as the earliest dedicated treatise on mental hygiene. “Nei” means heart; “ye” means technique. Neiye means the art of nurturing the heart. *Guanzi* regarded “good heart,” “calm heart,” “complete heart,” and “great heart” as ideal mental states, using them as standards for inner cultivation. Specifically, three principles: first, “correct and still”—body posture must be upright, mind serene. This benefits body and mind. Second, “peaceful and balanced”—meaning harmony and fairness. Its opposite is “joy, anger, sorrow, and anxiety.” Third, “focus on one”—stay concentrated, unaffected by external distractions, ensuring mental and physical peace.
Particularly noteworthy is the *Huangdi Neijing*, whose psychological health ideas are far richer and more mature than those in ancient Greece’s *Hippocrates Collection*. Reviewing the *Neijing*, whether in understanding social-psychological factors in disease causation and mechanisms, or in diagnosing and treating psychosomatic disorders, it offers many profound insights and has formed a systematic theoretical framework. For example, in the relationship between form and spirit, the *Neijing* recognized that form gives rise to spirit, and spirit governs form. Only when form and spirit are united can one achieve health and longevity. It urges people to self-control their spirits and resist interference from negative social trends. Furthermore, it comprehensively addresses the close relationship between mind and body, categorizes personality traits, emphasizes the role of psychological factors in disease onset and progression, highlights the significance of psychological treatment, and summarizes principles of mental health preservation—providing invaluable resources for studying emotional health care.
Han Dynasty physician Zhang Zhongjing, in the preface of his *Shanghan Zabing Lun*, passionately discussed the importance of health preservation. He criticized contemporary doctors and people for ignoring health, calling them “the world in deep ignorance,” “not valuing life,” solely pursuing fame and power, obsessed with status and wealth—“focusing on superficialities, neglecting fundamentals.” He urged people to cherish life and safeguard the root, offering “rational persuasion and emotional appeal.” Thus, Zhang Zhongjing already had a deeper understanding of emotional impact on health than the authors of the *Neijing*.
During the Three Kingdoms period, famous physician Hua Tuo famously cured a governor’s severe illness by provoking anger, a story recorded in *Hou Han Shu* and widely known. He also “understood the art of nourishing life” and valued mental hygiene.
Tang Dynasty physician Sun Simiao, in his *Qianjin Yaofang*, dedicated a section to “nourishing life,” compiling earlier writings on spirit and heart regulation while adding his own unique insights. For instance, the “Twelve Fewer and Twelve More” in “Daolin Yangsheng” further developed emotional health theories.
Song Dynasty physician Chen Wuzhe, in *Sanyin Ji Yi Bingzheng Fang Lun*, identified emotional stimulation as one of the three major categories of disease-causing factors, strongly emphasizing the critical role of psychological factors in disease development.
Zhang Zihé, one of the Four Great Masters of the Jin-Yuan period, in his *Rumen Shiren*, placed great emphasis on psychological treatment. He deeply studied the *Neijing*’s “overcoming emotion with emotion” therapy and created methods like “habitual calming.”
In Ming and Qing dynasties, psychological health care saw new developments and distinctive features. *She Sheng Jilan* proposed “nourishing spirit first”—though countless preservation methods exist, nourishing spirit ranks paramount. On the link between sleep and mental state, it pointed out that insomnia relates to emotions, advocating “first clear the heart” for falling asleep. *Zunsheng Bajian* promoted appreciating calligraphy, inkstones, flowers, and visiting scenic spots and climbing mountains to cultivate the spirit—this is the theoretical origin of today’s tourism and mountain-climbing for mental and physical well-being, still offering methodological inspiration.
In recent years, TCM’s psychological health concepts have gradually gained attention. The World Health Organization defines health as “not merely the absence of disease, but a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.” Given that “humans now live in an era of emotional burden,” psychosomatic disorders caused by mental factors have become widespread, common, and epidemic diseases. The shift in disease patterns clearly demonstrates the extensive impact of mental factors. Cardiovascular diseases and malignant tumors now pose the greatest threats to public health and life—closely tied to social and psychological factors. Therefore, emotional health care must be taken seriously and never treated lightly.