At present, people have a sense of mystery about TCM, expecting that TCM can cure mental illness, thinking that a certain secret formula can cure mental illness once and for all and never relapse. This is a common mentality of eagerness for success and a misunderstanding. For example, Li XX, male, 25 years old, from Hengyang, suffered from schizophrenia for more than a year and was clinically cured after taking Western medicine for several months. Then he insisted on taking the medication for more than 2 years as prescribed by the doctor, resumed his work before the disease, and treated people like normal people; but later, after he listened to the advertisement of a media “Chinese medicine root treatment for mental illness” and stopped taking western medicine on his own and took a certain Chinese medicine instead, his disease relapsed after 3 months, and he had to be hospitalized again. After being admitted to the hospital, the patient was treated with western medicine again and was clinically cured after two months. Afterwards, the patient’s family regretted very much and questioned, “Why can’t the Chinese medicine treatment break the root?” The above phenomenon is often encountered in clinical practice, which brings great pain and burden to patients and families.
The reason for this phenomenon is the lack of objective and systematic knowledge and understanding of Chinese medicine and the development of mental illness and its regression. As long as people have an understanding of the general knowledge of TCM and the common knowledge of the regression of mental illness, they will naturally have an objective and realistic expectation. The following is a brief description of Chinese medicine’s understanding of mental illness and the characteristics of mental illness regression.
Chinese medicine’s understanding of mental illness.
Chinese medicine is the treasure house of medicine in China, which cannot be clearly described in a few simple words. TCM has its unique medical system and clinical approach, and the most important feature is the holistic concept, which considers man and nature as an organic whole. It recognizes that the occurrence of disease is the result of multiple factors. Such as internal factors: changes in emotions, qi and blood, yin and yang, viscera and meridians; external factors: wind, cold, damp, summer, fire, dry evil invasion into the body; not internal and external factors: social factors, environmental factors, etc., the combined effect on the human body, so that the qi and blood, yin and yang, viscera and other functional changes in the occurrence of disease. Therefore, dialectical treatment is the essence of Chinese medicine treatment. Its treatment means are diversified, such as acupuncture, moxibustion, acupuncture, internal and external use of prescription drugs. The treatment plan is personalized, first of all, it emphasizes “not treating the disease, but treating the disease before it happens”, and proposes the positive health care concept of “tranquility and emptiness, true qi follows it”, and “the spirit is cured when the yin is calm and the yang is secret”. The idea of “Emotional and Spiritual Wellness” is the same as that of modern day. This kind of emotional and spiritual health care is fully compatible with modern psychological intervention and guidance, and there are specific dialectical treatment plans after the formation of diseases. There are a variety of treatment plans such as “three causes” and “internal organs and qi and blood dialectic”. There are many different treatment plans for the same disease, and no Chinese medical text ever talks about a certain medicine to cure a certain disease.
The treatment of mental illnesses in Chinese medicine has been recorded in Chinese medical texts more than two thousand years ago. Chinese medicine refers to mental illness as “epilepsy”. In the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, the Su Wen Yin Yang Chapter states, “When the illness is severe, the person will abandon his clothes and walk, ascend to a high place and sing, or to a bad condition for several days, and go up to a house beyond the wall, where he is not able to go.” This is a typical description of the emotional and behavioral disorders of psychiatric symptoms. The Spiritual Pivot Epilepsy Chapter contains “the onset of mania, less sleep and no hunger, since the high sage also, since the argumentative wisdom also, since the honorable also, good cursing and insults, day and night.” It is completely consistent with the mania of mental illness. The causes of mental illness are “brain”, “kidney deficiency”, “phlegm”, “fire”, and “stasis”. “stasis”. The cause, treatment and prescriptions have been recorded by medical doctors in successive generations, such as “Pores and Phlegm Pills”, “Angong Niuhuang Pills”, “Suhexiang Pills”, “Zizhu Dan”, and “Zizhu Pills”. “Zi Zhu Dan”, “Diarrhea Heart Soup”. In the Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao had the famous “Thirteen Ghost Evil Treatment for Epilepsy Formula” specifically recorded for the treatment of mental illness by acupuncture. There are also programs to prevent and control the recurrence of epilepsy, such as the regulation of yin and yang in the four seasons, dietary contraindications, and the regulation of living. Chinese medicine attaches importance to the dialectical treatment of mental diseases, with strict indications and contraindications; it also attaches importance to the regulation of emotions. In recent times, due to the introduction of Western medicine, the application and development of TCM has been hindered by its limitations in the treatment of mental illness. However, in the past two decades, with the development of combined Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of mental diseases, the effectiveness of Chinese medicine in the treatment of mental diseases has been recognized and promoted. For example, in recent years, we have developed “Jiu Wei Zhen Xin Granules”, “Shu Liver Relief Capsule”, “Awakening Brain Jing Injection”, “Zao Ren An Shen Capsule “, “seborrhea tablets”, all can have certain therapeutic effect for different degrees of mental diseases.
1.Advantages of combining Chinese and Western medicine
In clinical practice, the efficacy of treating schizophrenia with Chinese medicine alone is not very satisfactory, especially the slow onset of action. Although Western medicine treatment has fast results, some drugs such as chlorpromazine and clozapine have large side effects that are difficult for patients to accept, resulting in poor compliance. Using a combination of Chinese and Western medicine to treat schizophrenia has the potential to avoid the shortcomings of each, bring their respective advantages into play, and better address patient compliance with treatment. In 1991, Chinese medicine standardized and defined the treatment of schizophrenia by dialectical treatment as “phlegm-fire internal disturbance type” and “phlegm-damp internal obstruction type”. In 1991, Chinese medicine standardized and defined the treatment of mental illnesses as “phlegm and fire internal disturbance type”, “phlegm and damp internal obstruction type”, “qi stagnation and blood stasis type”, “yin deficiency and fire vigor type”, and “yang deficiency and deficiency type”. In terms of treatment methods, there are not only Chinese herbal drinks, but also proprietary medicine, acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, external application of medicine, meridian frequency, and chronic cerebellar electrical stimulation. Chinese medicine is more obvious and effective in the treatment of mild mental illnesses, such as our own research “Ning Shen Hopping” for the treatment of chronic insomnia.
2. Abuse of Chinese medicine is harmful
People used to think that Chinese medicine has no side effects and can be taken at any time, especially they think that tonic medicine can be taken more and for a long time, and the more they take, the better their health will be. For example, Huang XX, male, 30 years old, from Chenzhou, suffered from affective disorder (depressive state), and his family gave him a lot of ginseng and sophora for half a year, as a result, his condition worsened, and he had many delusions with impulsive injuries, which led to damage to kidney and liver functions. Later, he was hospitalized, and only after systematic conditioning and symptomatic treatment, his condition was relieved and his liver and kidney functions returned to normal. This is a misconception due to people’s lack of understanding of the characteristics of Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine has its own pharmacological characteristics, such as the four qi and five flavors, elevation, floating and sinking, attribution, and contraindications. The four qi of Chinese medicine are pungent (hot), cool (cold), sweet and flat, and the five tastes are sour, salty, sweet, bitter and pungent. Its clinical application needs to be strictly in accordance with the basic theory of Chinese medicine for dialectical treatment, rather than blindly applied at will. Once used indiscriminately or abused, it will produce corresponding adverse reactions and even cause serious side effects and endanger lives. For example, the use of warm drugs for heat will aggravate the condition; the use of tonic drugs for real illness will make the yang energy even worse and the yin and yang will be out of balance. Most Chinese medicines are native plants, minerals, etc., which have certain toxic side effects themselves, such as yangjinhua, cinnabar, arsenic, etc. There are also contraindications to the mutual use of drugs, such as the “eighteen anti” of traditional Chinese medicine, Wu Tou anti-Han Xia, Gua Lou, Bei Mu, Bai Wei, Bai Bai Bian, Qua Lu, anti Ginseng, Sha Shen, Dan Shen, Xuan Shen, Bitter Ginseng and Fine Paeonia, which in principle cannot be applied together, and there are also contraindications to the condition. According to the properties of drugs, Chinese medicine practitioners select drugs according to the specific dialectical treatment of the nature of the disease, there are strict principles of medication, is not to disregard the nature of the disease, only according to the name of the disease and arbitrary selection of drugs. This mentality of blindly listening to and misbelieving in biased prescriptions and drugs is harmful and must be corrected to avoid unnecessary losses. As far as the treatment of schizophrenia is concerned, there are currently no special drugs in Chinese medicine as well as in Western medicine, or they are still being researched and explored, so do not trust witch doctors. Some drugs are effective in treating psychosis, but they must be used with caution; for example, goldenseal, which has a high toxicity reaction and can easily cause drowsiness, with a dosage of 0.3-0.6 grams each time; vermilion is good for tranquilizing the mind, but it is easy to hurt the stomach and should not be taken for a long time. Ginseng is a strong tonic, but it cannot be taken for a long time, and it should be banned in all real cases. In short, the use of Chinese medicine must be under the guidance of a Chinese medicine clinical professional, not to purchase drugs on their own and use them blindly.
3. Modern medical understanding of mental illness.
The development of mental illness is complex and cannot be explained in a few words. Simply put, mental illnesses are divided into two categories: severe and mild. Severe mental illness is a comprehensive group of symptoms manifested by different degrees of impairment in human thinking, feeling, emotion, behavior, and will, which impairs the patient’s social function, seriously affects learning, life, and work, and even causes harm to social security, causing fear in the patient and family, and causing social panic. Most patients have a long illness and slow recovery, so people often want to find a once-and-for-all method or drug to solve the pain. The mood is understandable, but the causes of mental illness are complex and the lesions are in the brain. At present, the medical profession believes that its pathogenesis is related to a combination of biological factors: abnormal neurotransmitters, abnormal nerve cell development, abnormal brain structure and other physiological abnormalities; psychological factors: individual psychological quality, personality characteristics; social factors; natural environmental factors and other factors.
Strictly speaking, the exact etiology of most mental illnesses has not been clarified yet. Neither TCM nor Western medicine fully understands where the root of mental illness lies. Since it is not clear! How can we talk about TCM treatment that can break the root cause? In fact, as far as severe mental illness is concerned, only 16-20% of patients are cured once and do not relapse, and the most optimistic estimate is that only 25% of patients do not relapse, and most patients have a tendency to relapse.
Therefore, a more systematic and comprehensive treatment and drug selection is needed in the treatment, rather than a single drug can be solved. The treatment principles are: rational use of medication, symptomatic selection of medication; full dosage and full course of medication, the dose should be in place, the treatment time should be relatively long; early intervention treatment, early detection, early treatment; psychotherapy and medication treatment together; social rehabilitation and family guidance and treatment together.
4.How to deal with the relapse of mental illness
According to Chinese medicine, human is an organic whole and is closely related to external environmental factors, which can change at any time. It is difficult to avoid the relapse of any disease, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases that require long-term medication to stabilize the condition. Mental diseases are more closely related to the factors of external environmental changes, and relapse of diseases is difficult to avoid. Factors affecting relapse are mainly as follows.
① Premature reduction of medication and discontinuation of medication without following medical advice.
② Seasonal changes, such as around spring, summer and autumn, and sudden cold in winter.
③ Improper diet, such as drinking alcohol, eating dog meat and rooster meat.
④ changes in social environment, high work pressure, loss of love, unemployment, interpersonal tension, etc.
⑤ Inappropriate living, sleeping during the day and playing or entertaining at night.
⑥ Inappropriate family attention: such as over-commitment, like taking care of a toddler, everything, so that patients lose their independence, but deprive patients of time and space for psychological recovery (growth, maturity); or not enough attention, loss of confidence, for life, living, medication are not cared for, family resources are not effectively used also affect psychological recovery.
Any of the above factors can lead to relapse of the disease. However, there are certain signs of relapse, such as sleep disturbance, waking up early or not sleeping for several nights in a row, mood changes, behavioral changes, dull or indifferent eyes, and other phenomena. When the above signs are found, family members need not panic, but should actively contact the specialist for treatment options. As long as the above recurrence factors are understood, active response and early intervention are possible to control and delay the recurrence of the disease, and there are many successful cases in the clinic.