Every evening before leaving work, Dr. Wang would tidy up the medical records.
Sometimes, he would also review the previous records; this was his youth.
With anxiety and depression becoming more common recently, Dr. Wang deliberately looked at the past treatment records, hoping to discover new therapeutic inspirations to help relieve the patients’ worries and difficulties.
This is a patient’s medical record from ’18, of such a patient. The husband, a truck driver, and a six-year-old child at home; they should have been a happy family of three, but fate enjoys playing tricks.
An accident happened to the husband during work. Since then, the woman seemed lost. She was gloomy all day, talking to herself, unable to sleep at night, sometimes feeling chest tightness, dizziness, throbbing head, hearing her husband’s voice in her ears occasionally, and not being able to eat properly.
After examining the tongue coating and pulse, Dr. Wang diagnosed it as “Depressive Disorder” (a general term for emotional diseases). It was due to liver issues and blood toxicity.
The liver governs emotions, stores blood, and regulates the flow. The woman just now was emotionally depressed, indicating liver imbalance, leading to an imbalance in qi and blood.
An imbalance of qi and blood means old blood doesn’t flow out, and new blood doesn’t come in. The blood naturally becomes impure, like being poisoned, unable to nourish the entire body. Initially just emotional instability and gloominess. Prolonged emotional stimuli, Qi stagnation, liver dysfunction, may lead to internal generation of depression-heat, further exacerbating the development of the depressive symptoms.
Once this was understood, the treatment approach became clearer. By adopting liver-soothing, Qi-regulating, heat-clearing, detoxifying, blood-nourishing, and spirit-calming therapeutic methods, her depressive disorder could be effectively alleviated.
