-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
mental/emotional
anorexia nervosa
psychospiritual approaches

metaphors and correlations

• Immunological assessment study: The profiles of patients with anorexia deviated from the reported typical profile of significantly depressed cell-mediated immunity (CMI), demonstrating normal T-lymphocyte populations and unimpaired proliferative lymphocyte responsiveness. In fact, mitogen responsiveness was significantly elevated above the controls; but with nutritional repletion, this enhanced responsiveness regressed toward control values. Maintenance of relatively intact CMI may be an important factor separating the malnourished anorexia nervosa patient from other protein-calorie malnourished patients. (Locke, 1983, p. 167)
• Conflicts about growing up. (Epstein, p. 58)
• Denying the self-life. Extreme fear, self-hatred, and rejection. (Hay, 1984, p. 152)
• To explain the paradoxical illnesses of anorexia or bulimia, one has to drop the distinction between mind and body. In anorexics, the distorted idea, 'I must be thinner,' takes over the bodymind like a malevolent and elusive phantom. Even after long hospitalization and exhaustive psychiatric treatment, the patient rarely eats like a normal person. In the binging and vomiting of bulimia, the distortion goes beyond, 'I have to be thin,' to 'I can never be thin enough.' Thus, in similar ways, obsession with an unrealistic body image takes over as 'a ghost of memory', a memory picked up and stored in the body. These patients do not feel they have a disease, they are the disease, and to heal, they must reach the level where the 'ghost lives.' (Chopra, p. 79-81)
• Anorexics and bulimics have an exaggeration of an ascetic ideal, and resist their own femininity and sexuality in an aim to free themselves of bodily needs, to be pure and spiritual renunciates. "Asceticism generally throws a shadow, and the name of that shadow is 'greed'. Thus, anorexics never succeed in finding a happy medium in the conflict between greed and asceticism, between hunger and renunciation, between self-centeredness and self-sacrifice. These patients have to discover and accept their own greed, their craving for love and sex, their egocentricity and their femininity, with all the instinctiveness and corporeality that this entails." (Dethlefsen, p. 142-5)
• "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:
Heart ~ Xin houses the Shen (Spirit) and reveals itself through the brightness in the eyes; opens into the tongue; and relates to the integration of the organs and the personality.
»
Healthy expressions are warmth, vitality, excitement, inner peace, love, and joy.
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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.
» 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.
» The Heart is the Emperor of the bodily realm so that when the Heart is disturbed all the other organs will be disrupted.

Stomach ~ Wei is the Sea of Nourishment and origin of all fluids; it transforms and digests food so that the Spleen can separate the distilled food essences; with the Spleen, is the root of post-natal Qi; and as Earth, it relates to ability to assimilate, stabilize, and feel balanced and centered.
» Healthy expressions are fairness, openness, and nurturance.
» Weakness, dysfunction, and illness are associated with worry, anxiety, and overthinking. Worry will cause Stagnation of Qi in the Stomach and will manifest as a niggling, burning pain, belching, and nausea. Excessive mental work over a period of years leads to Deficiency of Stomach Qi. Anger, frustration, and resentment affect the Stomach indirectly through Liver Qi Stagnation which invades the Stomach. (Maciocia, p. 267)
» Stomach Xu (Deficiency) signs include slow digestion; vomiting after meals; painful eyebrows; emotionality; teariness; sadness; cold feet (Seem, p. 28); cold and shivering in the abdominal area; abdomen swollen and full; gastritis; loss of appetite; diarrhea; nausea; and leg weakness.

Spleen ~ Pi governs digestion and manifests in the muscle tissues; transforms food into Qi and Xue (Blood); governs the Xue (Blood); 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; memory failure; pale lips; loose stools; and muscular weakness.
» The excessive use of the mind in thinking, studying, concentrating, and memorizing over a long period of time tends to weaken the Spleen. 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; maintains smooth flow of Qi and Xue (Blood); and reflects emotional harmony and movement.
» Healthy expressions are kindness, spontaneity, and ease of movement.
» 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., and a tendency to "invade" the Spleen and Stomach.

Kidney ~ Shen stores Jing (Essence) and governs birth, growth, reproduction, development, and aging; houses the Zhi (Will); expresses ambition and focus; governs Water to regulate body fluids; and displays the effects of aging, chronic degenerative processes, and extreme stress.
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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).


therapies

imagery:
• Self looking healthy and energetic, and only keeping the needed food. (Bry, p. 62)
• bear journey: heart (Scully)
• body rework (Chavez)
• casting bright: etheric body healing (Chavez)
• do it again lamb: addiction (Chavez)
• Mut and crone journey: intuition, healing wisdom (Scully)
• obesity - receptive (Fanning, p. 67)
• rainbow butterfly: self-esteem (Scully)
• reparenting: self-esteem (Fanning, p. 180)
• reflecting wall: self-image (Chavez)
• Taueret journey: rebirth (Scully)
• warmth of love (Chavez)
related materia medica listings: imagery for anxiety and depression

affirmation:
• It is safe to be me.
• I am wonderful just as I am.
• I choose to live.
• I choose joy and self-acceptance. (Hay, 1984, p. 159)

theotherapy:
Aphrodite, Artemis, Daphne, Demeter, Furies, Midas, Niobe, Narcissus, Orpheus (Lemesurier, p. 87)

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
subjective inquiry approach
state-dependent learning
addiction: psychosocial approach
behavior modification techniques
imagery: precautions
imagery: techniques
affirmations: guidelines and precautions
theotherapy
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.