obesity, metabolism and psyche

[Guest guest]

I am not suggesting the chinese have nothing to say on obesity. But

let's take a closer look.

 

, Jack Sweeney

<mojavecowboy> wrote:

 

> Syndrome Differentiation

>

> 1. Heat in the stomach and intestines

>

> Hyperorexia, polyphagia, dry mouth and preference for

> drinking water, aversion to heat and profuse sweating,

> irritability and susceptibility to rage, constipation,

> yellow and scanty urine, red tongue with yellow and

> greasy fur, slippery and powerful pulse or slippery

> and rapid pulse.

 

There are many people who fit into this category in early and middle

age. It is one of the factors in diabetes. But the source of the

heat, IMO, is often the liver as emotions are typically involved in the

excessive consumption of food. So I don't see the etiology of this

disorder as metabolic or genetic in most cases. In other words, it is

not an idiopathic disruption of physiology (such as hormones) that

leads to increased appetite, but a disruption of the emotions that

leads to liver depression heat entering the stomach and increasing

appetite to quell the fire. But I also think this heat aggravates the

heart and one may overeat to try and weigh down the spirit temporarily

(which works as the well known term " food coma " suggests). Of course,

this all makes matters worse. Now I am not saying that damp food

stagnation subs for heart blood, just that it encumbers the spleen and

induces some contentment and stupor. In any event, the source of the

problem is ultimately the emotions.

 

Which raises a potentially interesting topic for digression. Do herbs

and acupuncture " cure " disorders caused by emotions or is something

else necessary as well. I would say that acupuncture and herbs can

clear off a lot of the sequelae of the root disorders (usually liver

depression, stomach heat and spleen vacuity), but if the cause is left

unaddressed, it will all recur. Can herbs and acupuncture, if used

constantly, prevent the recurrence of pathology, even if the causes are

left unaddressed. for example, we take as a given that one must eat a

good diet to get well from zang fu disorders and no amount of herbs and

acupuncture can overcome a junk food diet. So does not one also need

to get one's emotional life in order to get well. The emotions are the

internal causes of disease and while we can treat them symptomatically

with herbs when they become excessive, is this not also a losing battle

unless some other thing is done. What is the equivalent of changing

diet when it comes to emotions? We need to change habits, right. so

we need to self-impose discipline and substitute stress relieving

activities for destructive ones. This is where yoga and tai ji fit

into the scheme of things. but also psychotherapy.

 

Ken Wilber edited an interesting book called Transformations of

consciousness years ago. This paragraph paraphrases my understanding.

In it, psychiatrists discuss the patient appropriate use of various

forms of psychotherapy and meditative practices. The case is made that

when a patient lacks self-esteem, confidence or otherwise demonstrates

an unstable ego, such as in most personality disorders or those who are

" ruled by their emotions " , pyschotherapy geared towards development of

stable ego is indicated. Many meditative and related practices, when

used for psychological reasons, are most appropriate for those with

with very stable, even rigid or arrogant egos. All the great wisdom

traditions place meditation in the context of transcending one's

limited ego-bound consciousness. Wilber and others have argued that

one cannot effectively utilize techniques designed to transcend ego

when ego has yet been fully formed. Ego used to be formed in

traditional societies by conformism to church or state and thus modern

psychotherapy was not necessary.

 

The individualism of modern times has created opportunity for growth,

but also a crisis in basic development of the psyche. this is why we

have seen the rise of fundamentalism worldwide. Religion solves this

dilemma, but at what cost? It is no coincidence that the rise of

psychotherapy came as religion ceased to dominate the belief structure

of the intelligentsia in the late 1800's. So for a segment of the

population, the psychotherapeutic model essentially has replaced

religion. Unfortunately, these days all we have left is pop

psychology, as medicine only uses drugs anymore for this purpose. So

people looking for a stable identity in modernity have the choice of

becoming fundamentalists or taking SSRI's (sometimes martial arts or

similar training can fit this bill if the instructor is savvy in

cultivating the mind of his students). Freudian psychotherapy had its

place. Read Wilber for his thousands of pages making this case over

the past 30 years. In any event, everyone needs to relax, so

breathing, hatha yoga, guided relaxation, subliminal tapes, etc, can be

of value to all. but we need to be discriminating in sending certain

patients down the road of certain " practices " . I find the majority of

my patients who are obese do not yet even have a stable ego to

transcend. Counseling and group support are where its at for these

folks. Kundalini yoga is out.

 

 

 

>

>2. [spleen Qi Deficiency?]

> Pale complexion and lips, poor appetite, abdominal

> distension after meal, spiritual lassitude and

> fatigue, palpitation and shortness of breath,

> somnolence and no desire to talk, loose stool or

> scanty urine and dropsy, light-colored tongue with

> tooth prints on the margins, thin and white tongue

> fur, thin, slow and weak pulse or deep and slow pulse.

 

 

this type of obesity is metabolic in the absence of stomach heat. the

patient has low appetite and still is fat. perhaps hypothyroid. same

for the one below. I think is well established that only a small % of

obese patients have fundamental metabolic disorders that lead to

impaired fat metabolism. Evolutionary medicine, an interesting

subject, postulates that humans as a rule are genetically predisposed

to fat accumulation. In times of plenty, such as every day for most

americans, the natural uncontrolled biological tendency is to gorge

oneself. This is a safety mechanism to provide storage for times of

lack. In primordial times, abundance was seasonal and lack was too.

But because civilized society creates abundance without periods of

lack, we must substitute mental discipline for biological controls.

following nature is not just satisfying desires as they arise. I think

the ancient taoists meant for us to look at nature to determine

carefully how we could maintain the rhythms we evolved with whilst

still living amongst the masses. So this drive to overeat must just be

overcome by will. It is natural, not a defect, and if we do not

transcend biology in this matter as in others, we will be forever

constrained by it.

 

> 3. Insufficiency of renal primordial qi

 

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

FAX:

 

Chinese Herbs

 

FAX:

 

 

[Guest guest]

So for a segment of the

population, the psychotherapeutic model essentially has replaced

religion. Unfortunately, these days all we have left is pop

psychology, as medicine only uses drugs anymore for this purpose.

>>>Todd interestingly cognitive therapy as been shown to be the most effective

(and in some studies the only effective) of the psychotherapeutics in the

treatment of depression. It is a very mechanical approach that really does not

work on the emotions but on thinking preceding emotions

Alon

 

 

[Guest guest]

.... In other words, it is

not an idiopathic disruption of physiology (such as hormones)

that

leads to increased appetite, but a disruption of the emotions

that

leads to liver depression heat entering the stomach and

increasing

appetite to quell the fire. But I also think this heat

aggravates the

heart and one may overeat to try and weigh down the spirit

temporarily

(which works as the well known term " food coma " suggests). Of

course,

this all makes matters worse. Now I am not saying that damp

food

stagnation subs for heart blood, just that it encumbers the

spleen and

induces some contentment and stupor. In any event, the source

of the

problem is ultimately the emotions.

et al,

This makes a lot of sense to me. If the emotions are the source in this

case, wouldn't it suggest that such may the case with many other

physiological conditions? What percentage of TCM and western diagnoses

are physiological manifestations of underlying emotional states? IMO,

many!

 

 

Which raises a potentially interesting topic for digression. Do

herbs

and acupuncture " cure " disorders caused by emotions or is

something

else necessary as well. I would say that acupuncture and herbs

can

clear off a lot of the sequelae of the root disorders (usually

liver

depression, stomach heat and spleen vacuity), but if the cause

is left

unaddressed, it will all recur.

 

Using herbs, I believe physiological conditions can be controlled or

even improved to the point that emotions find it easier to target some

other, more susceptible element of ones structure or function. Also,

ones sense of self and life fluctuate like everything else. In certain

segments of our naturally varying cycles of life and emotions, herbs can

be very useful to reduce the amplitude of these transient cycle

patterns, thereby allowing us to ignore their underlying cause a while

longer!

 

The emotions are the

internal causes of disease and while we can treat them

symptomatically

with herbs when they become excessive, is this not also a losing

battle

unless some other thing is done. What is the equivalent of

changing

diet when it comes to emotions? We need to change habits,

right. so

we need to self-impose discipline and substitute stress

relieving

activities for destructive ones. This is where yoga and tai ji

fit

into the scheme of things. but also psychotherapy.

 

I don't believe that the " stress relieving " activities you mention

dramatically change a persons' emotional response to stressful

experiences in the long run, although they help. I believe a shift in

ones perspective on life and a persons' self image, and expectations of

both life oneself are required in order to change an innate emotional

response to life circumstances. I agree with a lot of what you

interpreted Ken Wilber to be stating.

 

I've been taught that the " spiritual poisons " related to the five

elements: ignore-ance, anger, lust (coveting), envy, and pride, are root

elements of many disease states. In the late 1980's I reached a point

in practice that I felt my patients needed psycho-spiritual therapy

(from someone else) more than herbs and acupuncture. I may not have

been half wrong but could have been half right.

 

Stephen Morrissey OMD

Botanica BioScience

PhytoMedical Research, Inc.