Why refuse Western medicine?
Without personal experience, it is difficult to unravel the confusion.
Side effects and withdrawal pains, let’s set aside for now; to speak further would be tedious.
Psychiatry has a history of barely two hundred years, a mere瞬息 in the long river of humanity. Yet today, mental illness is becoming more and more serious.
The effects of drugs are evident, yet they have ultimately failed to lead people to recovery.
The theory of neurotransmitter regulation is so crude and simplistic.
Why do so many believe this rough adjustment qualifies as science?
It is because the science of the mind has been deified.
Variations of neurotransmitters and various protein hormones certainly exist, yet they can only be said to cause bodily symptoms, not the essence.
For example, many who suffer from depression may have fluid accumulation in the lungs, leading to shortness of breath with even slight movement, feeling groggy all day, irritable and unable to sleep. In reality, it is not water in the lungs, but phlegm.
The reason for this will not be discussed now; let’s talk about treatment first.
Mahuang, apricot kernels, licorice, and gypsum, these four substances can provide healing.
Mahuang is a taboo topic in traditional Chinese medicine, yet it can disperse and promote urination; using it primarily, there’s no fear of excessive sweating. If there is water and dampness in the lungs, using it is not a problem.
Many patients find their urine output increases and their shortness of breath disappears after taking it, its effects are miraculous.
What causes this?
It can relieve exterior conditions and enter the bladder channel.
As previously mentioned, the root of depression lies in deficiency of spleen yang, with bladder yang deficiency acting as an intermediary, thus the treatment should focus on relieving the exterior.
This discussion of the use of Chinese medicine goes beyond superficial treatment.
Mahuang does so, and the same applies to dried ginger, xixin, and cinnamon twig.
What is the purpose of dried ginger?
Ancient people referred to it as indicating deficiency and cold of the spleen and stomach; upon deep contemplation, this becomes clear. The function of dried ginger lies in increasing intestinal and gastric motility.
Therefore, various herbs are combined to strengthen the motility of the stomach, intestines, and lungs. Mahuang and cinnamon twig push water to the exterior, xixin navigates between them, and schisandra tightens blood vessels to assist in the expulsion of phlegm and water, thoroughly eliminating it from the body.
Is this scientific? Is it unscientific?
It is unknown, yet its effectiveness is indeed real.
Some may ask: do Western medicines have side effects while Chinese medicines do not?
Where is the poison in xixin or banxia?
Xixin indeed has its toxicity, and so does apricot kernel.
Yet the miracle lies in the fact that after being boiled, the toxicity decomposes with heat. Therefore, xixin should not be used in powdered form but must be boiled for use.
To know so, and also to understand why, is the scientific way to treat mental illnesses.
