-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
cutaneous system
abscess
psychospiritual approaches

metaphors and correlations

• fermenting thoughts over hurts, slights, and revenge (Hay, 1984, p. 150)

Chinese psychophysiology:

Lung ~ Fei governs the Qi; is the home of the Po (Corporeal Soul); it relates to strength and sustainability; and extends through the skin.
» Healthy expressions are righteousness and courage.
»
Weakness, dysfunction, and illness are associated with excessive grief, sadness, worry, and depression. Worry depletes the Lung Qi.

Liver ~ Gan is the home of the Hun (Ethereal Soul); it relates to decisiveness, control, and the principle of emergence; cleanses the Xue (Blood); maintains smooth flow of Qi and Xue (Blood); and reflects emotional harmony and movement.
» 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 eyes, 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 (Blood) Heat. Liver Yin Xu (Deficiency) predisposes to such Shi (Excess) conditions as Liver Wind.
» 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 Wind derives from Liver Yin Xu (Deficiency) and/or Liver Xue Xu (Blood Deficiency) and their subsequent inability to embrace the Yang, and can manifest as joint stiffness, dizziness, tremor, paralysis, convulsions, rashes, itching, and neurological problems. Wind can also be internalized after exposure to inclement, especially windy, weather, and any concomitant influences of Damp, Cold, and/or Heat.

Gall Bladder ~ Dan is the source of courage and initiative, and is responsible for decision-making as the bodily Minister of Justice; controls circulation of the nourishing and protecting energies [Ying Qi and Wei (Protective) Qi]. 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 slightly cold limbs. 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.

Large Intestine ~ Da Chang governs transformation and conveyance of food to waste to form stool; relates to strength and sustainability as the Yang aspect of Metal.
»
Weakness, dysfunction, and illness are associated with sadness, grief, and worry. Worry depletes the Lung Qi which fails to descend and assist the Large Intestine with its functions.
» Healthy expressions are righteousness and courage.
» Large Intestine Xu (Deficiency)
signs include skin eruptions; itching; cold; difficulty warming up (Seem, p. 29); shivering; rumbling in the bowels; and diarrhea.


therapies

affirmation:
• I allow my thoughts to be free. The past is over. I am at peace. (Hay, 1984, p.150)

psychotherapy:
• In the case of infectious illness, there is an attempt to avoid conflict. Consider:
» What conflict am I dodging? What conflict am I failing to admit to?
» What conflict am I failing to see, hear, feel, take in? (Dethlefsen, p. 108)
• Whatever happens to the skin corresponds to an inner process. The diverse functions of the skin (protection, contact, expression, excretion, respiration, temperature regulation, sexuality, etc.) encompass the two poles of separation and contact. Something is challenging our limits, or we are armoring an inner sensitivity. Questions to ask in the event of skin problems:
» What is it that is getting under my skin? What is trying to break through barriers?
» How easy/difficult is it to make contact with other people? Do I desire intimacy?
» Have I condemned myself to "solitary confinement?" What is useful about this?
(Dethlefsen, p. 162, 170)

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

related materia medica listings:
the shadow and physical symptoms
skin metaphors and correlations
converting a signal to a symptom
affirmations: guidelines and precautions
theotherapy
process paradigm


footnotes