Why our emotions make us sick

Can our emotions make us sick?

The answer is yes, according to Chinese medicine.

In Chinese medicine, we have a different view of causes of disease, compared to Western medicine. It is believed that humans become ill because of external or internal pathogenic factors, also called external and internal evils. External factors are the five climatic factors, cold, dampness, wind, dryness and heat, that can cause disease. Internal factors are our emotions, and more specifically the five emotions: anger, joy, sadness, worry (over-thinking) and fear.

 We are not designed to hold on

Our bodies are not designed to hold on to emotions. Emotions are an expression of energy, called qi. Our bodies are designed to experience emotions and to allow them to move, through different expressions. When we can’t let go of our emotions, hold on to them and allow them to become long lasting and chronic, there is a risk that they will create illness.

Internal causes of disease - the five emotions

Emotions are an internal cause of a disturbance of harmony in the body, which can create disease if not balanced. Too much anger can be harmful, just as too much joy.

The five emotions of anger, joy, sadness, worry (over-thinking) and fear, are normal to experience, and are part of being humans. To experience emotions is healthy. Problems only arise when these emotions are felt in excess, or over a long period of time. When for example grief becomes chronic and unprocessed, there is a risk that this will create illness. When anger cannot be expressed in a healthy way, anger can create imbalances in the body that can develop into disease.

Chinese medicine holds the belief that the biggest causes of disease are our emotions. In other words, we need to find healthy ways to constantly regulate our emotional life, in order to stay healthy.

 It´s all about qi

Each of these five emotions is, according to TCM, interconnected with an organ in the body. This means that these emotions affect the entire body, but that each emotion has a specific connection, energy-wise, to an organ in our body. For example, grief largely affects our lungs. A person with "chronic grief" suffers the risk of experiencing physical problems associated with the lungs. Another person who experiences too much anger suffers from the risk that the liver may exhibit physical symptoms. Joy is connected to the heart, and too much joy, to constantly seek for more and more joy, is not good for our heart. Concern and over-thinking affect our spleen, which has a strong connection with our stomach and digestion according to TCM. Fear affects our kidneys.

Learning to manage one's emotional life is a big part of TCM and its holistic view of the human being. There are several ways to balance the body's emotions, where acupuncture is a big part. Acupuncture allows the body's organs to be balanced, where the acupuncturist, through diagnosis and conversation with the patient, finds out which organ needs to be balanced and harmonized depending on the unique individual. Namely, it can also be that an organ itself is in imbalance, which can express itself in emotions. It goes both ways. A liver in imbalance can express itself through anger, frustration and irritation.