Interested in learning about Chinese herbs for anxiety? Find out how anxiety is diagnosed and treated with Chinese herbs under traditional Chinese medicine.
According to Chinese medicine anxiety is understood as being a disorder of Shan You Si and is believed to affect the Zang Organs. The precise cause of anxiety is determined by the extent to which each individual zang organ is affected. There are particular signs and symptoms that help to determine the cause and remedies based on herbs are prescribed accordingly.
There are four categories of anxiety according to Chinese medicine
1. Heart/Spleen Qi Deficiency: Anxiety, obsessive worry, preoccupation, palpitations, fatigue, aversion to speaking, abdominal distention, poor appetite, weak pulse and pale tongue are some of the symptoms that denote this pattern of disharmony.
2. Liver Qi Stagnation Affecting the Spleen: Irritability and moodiness along with hypochondriac pains, constipation, muscular tension and distended sublingual veins are some of the things that characterize this pattern of disharmony.
3. Kidney Qi Deficiency: Along with the above mentioned signs the individual suffering from this kind of disharmony has a fear phobia, lack of sexual responsiveness along with lower back and knee weakness.
4. Lung Qi Deficiency: Although this pattern of disharmony has a lot of similar symptoms it is also characterized by spastic behavior and the refusal of the individual to let go. Shortness of breath, excessive sweating and coughing are also some of the ways in which Lung Qi Deficiency manifests it self.
Chinese herbs are used with the aim to treat the disturbance that occurs in the Shen. They also help to correct the pattern of disharmony amongst the zang organs. By having these effects on the body Chinese herbs can normalize the shen which helps the individual to remain calm.
Chinese herbs used for the treatment of Anxiety
There are various Chinese herbs that have been singled out for individual use whereas a number of Chinese herbs are also used in combination in order to create formulas that can help regulate the shen and balance out the zang organs.
Suan Zao Ren is one of the most popular Chinese herbal formulas used for the purpose of calming down the Shen. This particular herb has excellent calming properties. In cases where the heart and spleen Qi have been affected the most commonly used herbs include Bai Zhu and Fu Shen.
The Chinese herb Bai Zhu is also used in combination with Huang Qi as well as We Wui Zi. This combination also helps to tonify Lung Qi as well as working to calm the shen.
There are certain combinations of herbs that are known to effectively harmonize the liver and the spleen. Classic combinations include Bai Zhu, Bai Shao, Dang Shen and Chai Hu.
In cases where the kidney Qi has also been affected the most popular Chinese herbal formulas make use of herbs such as Shu Di Huang and Yuan Zhi along with others.
