The Treatment of Emotional Trauma and PTSD with Chinese Medicine

For millennia, Chinese medicine physicians have asserted that the seven emotions can be a major cause of disease.
Following emotional trauma, the body becomes susceptible to pathogens and organ dysfunction, leading to a variety of ailments. From the perspective of Chinese medicine, trauma scatters the qi and disrupts the body’s communication and regulation systems, inhibiting its innate ability to maintain homeostasis. Chinese medicine can be used to diagnose and effectively treat such trauma to restore homeostatic balance and optimal functioning of the organ and channel systems. Treatment is carried out in a three-step process: first, the qi is gathered in order to ground and centre the patient, then the memory of the trauma is soothed to stop its repeated triggering and the resulting disturbance of the qi, and finally, once clear communication of the channel system of the body is restored, individual organ/channel imbalances are addressed. Trauma affects each patient individually. Specific treatment on channels and organ systems is imperative to fully resolve emotional trauma and clear any trauma
that remains locked in the body. A case study demonstrating the diagnosis and treatment of emotional trauma is provided in this article, along with the necessary background of Chinese and conventional medical approaches.