{"id":11462,"date":"2017-02-20T13:41:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T18:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=11462"},"modified":"2017-02-21T00:17:21","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T05:17:21","slug":"introduction-to-emotional-soothing-therapy-with-two-case-studies-of-uterine-fibroids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=11462","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to Emotional Soothing Therapy with Two-Case Studies of Uterine Fibroids"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Research Update]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Examination of the Relationship between Emotional Disturbance and Tumors: Introduction to Emotional Soothing Therapy through Two-Case Studies of Uterine Fibroids[1]<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Feng-Yuan BAO, Hui ZHAO, Kevin W CHEN<\/p>\n

(Coming in\u00a0International Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and Mental Health<\/em>, 2017, 5)<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT<\/strong><\/p>\n

The role of emotional disturbance in the development of tumors have been well documented and verified in both theoretical and empirical studies among Chinese and Western medicine. However, there has been little work addressing emotional disturbance through therapy that focuses on emotional releasing in the treatment of tumors in general. We believe a lack of clinical evidence for the improvement of a patient\u2019s physical condition through effective emotional releasing or guidance may be a key reason for the absence of psychologists in most existing tumor treatment protocols. Providing clinical evidence in emotion-disease association may be an important first step to enhancing existing treatment modalities with emotional-focused components. As an example, this paper describes two case studies of uterine fibroids, with the primary focus on the emotional pathogenic mechanism of tumor growth. In both cases, Emotional Soothing Therapy (EST) is used to help the patients shrink their uterine fibroids in one to two short treatments. The treatment procedures and dialogue between the patient and the therapist are provided to demonstrate how the EST was used to defuse negative emotions, reduce emotional disturbance, and help ease physical and psychological pain, In both cases, the uterine fibroids shrank significantly (by 50% and 90% respectively) after 1-2 EST sessions. These documented clinical cases provide an important reference for future clinical treatment of tumors, and warrant further randomized controlled trials on the EST, as well as the association between emotions and tumor reduction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

The relationship between human emotion and diseases has long been a subject of continuous research and exploration in both traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine. With the improvement in research methods and technology, the results of a series of empirical research have suggested that emotional distress or disturbance might have real physical harm or manifestations (such as tumors), and that there is a corresponding relationship between different emotions and various diseases1-3.<\/sup> \u00a0These results have helped us to go beyond the previous trend of excessive focusing on treatment of physical symptoms in contemporary medical practice, to better understand the mind-body connection from a holistic point of view, and to explore new ways to treat physical disease with psychological approach. However, neither traditional Chinese medicine nor western medicine offers a clear clinic guideline on how to apply emotional element in actual treatment of diseases, partially due to the lack of clinical evidence in improving physical conditions through emotion-focused therapy.<\/p>\n

\"300\"<\/a>

Teacher Bao, Fengyuan<\/p><\/div>\n

In our clinical observation and practice, we have noticed a series of associations between types of emotional disturbance and the possible types of physical diseases. More importantly, through our newly-developed \u201cEmotional Soothing Therapy\u201d (EST), we are able to explore-then-apply the past traumatic life experience (related to certain negative emotions) as a breakthrough point in emotional guidance, and help patients overcome or reduce the physical symptoms through effectively releasing the negative emotions related to the physical disease. The clinical application of EST is accompanied by the meridian theory from TCM through soothing or cleansing the energy blockages in the key acupoints related to emotional elements. A close examination of medical reports before and after the short intervention by EST among the patient of uterine fibroids shows significant reduction in the size of tumor, which provides the preliminary clinical evidence that emotional intervention can significantly reduce physical diseases with an emotional root.<\/p>\n

As this paper would be the first one in a series of studies to examine the clinical associations between emotional disturbance and disease development, we would like to briefly summarize the theoretical basis on the relationship between emotions and diseases. Then we will discuss some known mechanisms on how emotional disturbance can lead to certain diseases before we introduce our specific EST and two successful cases report that EST helped patient with uterine fibroids to shrink the tumor dramatically after 1-2 sessions.<\/p>\n

The Relationship between Emotions and Diseases<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the founding of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the physicians have paid close attention to the effect of emotional changes on the development of visceral diseases. In the \u201cYellow Emperor\u2019s Internal Classic<\/em>,\u201d the earliest medical book in TCM, which elaborates the overall foundation and main concepts of Chinese medicine, it states, \u201cThe human body is centered with five internal organs, and links all bodily tissues and organs together through meridians, essence, qi, blood and bodily fluids so as to create a unified entity and maintain life activity\u201d.4<\/sup> It also points out the relationship among emotions, qi (vital energy), and organs. For example, in \u201cPlain Questions: A Treatise on Pain\u201d it states that, \u201cWe know that all diseases result from qi disorders; anger leads to qi ascending, joy leads to qi calm, grief causes qi depression, fear causes qi collapse, fright causes qi disorder, and contemplation (over thinking) causes qi stagnation\u201d4<\/sup>. \u00a0In \u201cPlain Questions –the Great Treatise on the Correspondences and Manifestations of Yin and Yang\u201d It states that, \u201canger impairs the liver, over-joy hurts the heart, anxiety harms the spleen, melancholy impairs the lungs, fear hurts the kidneys\u201d. In addition to the five emotions, \u201cYellow Emperor\u2019s Internal Classic<\/em>\u201d also expresses perspectives on the sixth and seventh emotions, and shows a deep understanding of TCM in body visceral lesions caused by psychological distress or disturbance related to emotions.\u00a0\"Negative--Emotion-Creation-Cycle-ok\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Emotion is an important subject in modern medicine and psychology. \u00a0Research suggests that certain types of diseases or physical changes could be the result of emotional disturbance or stress responses in the neuro-endocrine system. \u00a0\u201cStress\u201d, or negative emotions during stress, can activate a series of chain reactions in the body, traditionally known as \u201cfight or flight response\u201d, which stimulates or activates the physiological changes through two distinguished pathways — hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the former works via bloodstream, while the later works via neural pathway. The stress response will be passed down through the mesh structure, and cause an overall physical reaction in the body, including increased heart rate, respiration rate and blood pressure, increased muscle tension and sweat, increased insulin and blood glucose, with decreased immune function, growth hormone, and productive function, accompanied with gastrointestinal suppression, and other physical disorders, and resulting in multiple abnormal hormone levels.5<\/sup> \u00a0After review the literature on stress response, Qiao and Wang suggested that emotional states can have casual links with physical health through the biological, psychological, and social routes, and can affect people’s awareness of physical symptoms, choice of health behaviors, and adaptation to illness through changing the level of perceived comfort when information reaches the brain.6,7.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The laboratory studies have also confirmed the relationship between emotions and physical disorders. Yan et al.8<\/sup> established an animal model of \u201canger impairing the liver\u201d by the method of enraging rats. The experimental results showed that after being stimulated with rage or stress, there was a significant reduction in the ability of peritoneal macrophages to release H2<\/sub><\/em>O2<\/sub>, indicating that the rat\u2019s immune reaction was inhibited. In other experiments by Liu 9<\/sup> and Sun10<\/sup>, the relationship between emotion and liver disease was replicated by animal models. Through research on the impact of anger expression and its characteristics on the autonomic nervous system during emotional recovery, Zhan11<\/sup> et al. found that compared with anger characteristics, the impact of anger expression on the autonomic nervous system during emotional recovery is more extensive, and showing the slower recovery and the longer period of impact on. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent excessive venting from damaging high levels of sympathetic activation and to avoid excessive repression from causing more enduring subsequent damage to the body. Through study of the relationship between bronchial asthma and emotions, Song12 <\/sup>et al. found that if a person is often in a tense state of mind, his psychological pressure will be increasingly strong, which inevitably affects the body’s immune function through the nervous and endocrine systems, and even induces or aggravates asthma. Through investigating the influence of emotional stress on blood glucose levels, insulin levels, and islet cell apoptosis in NOD mice, Tao13<\/sup> et al. found that emotional stress can cause the occurrence of insulitis and apoptosis of islet cells in NOD mice, which may accelerate the occurrence of insulitis in NOD mice susceptible to diabetes and significantly increase apoptosis of pancreatic islet cells, thus playing an important role in the development of type 1 diabetes.\u00a0\"emotion-harms-your-body-rev\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As seen from the research, the role of emotions in the physical body exists objectively and can lead to various diseases. TCM and Western medicine discuss the path of emotional effects on the human body in different ways, but on the whole, they still follow the overall path of \u201csocial environment –> emotional changes –> dysfunction –> cell disease –> changes in organizational structure\u201d 14<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Since emotional changes or disturbance can cause physical change or disease development, emotional releasing, channeling and guidance should improve people’s health and become an effective clinical treatment. However, in current practice of Western medicine, clinical treatments focus mainly on the bodily symptoms, while psychological support or counseling is just an auxiliary means, and has not been given sufficient attention. \u00a0As \u201cTCM pays more attention to the whole-person health with less attention to the detail or symptoms\u2026. as a part of natural philosophy and living, the unique TCM theory of seven emotions and emotion-led disease cannot be spelled out easily in modern medicine language, and as a result, it is not effectively applied in clinical psychosomatic illness.\u201d15 <\/sup>Therefore, the exploration of an effective treatment method based on emotional guidance is the key to a better understanding of the relationship between emotion and diseases, and a key to a more complete recovery and health in medical practice.<\/p>\n

Possible Emotional Pathogenesis of Gynecological Diseases like Uterine Fibroids<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone has a limit to how much pressure one can withstand. \u00a0Major life events as the main source of psychological distress can lead to negative emotions and physiological responses.16<\/sup> \u00a0If these negative emotions were not released or channeled out properly, they would be stored in the human mind or consciousness, forming an emotional memory in the subconsciousness. Emotional memory refers to the process of encoding and storing emotional information and response patterns, and searching for coping response or extracting it under certain circumstances.17<\/sup> This emotional memory will continue affecting the human body. \u201cAlthough suppression response may reduce the effect of strong negative emotions caused by traumatic events in a short term, it would cause the person withstanding long-term post-traumatic stress or disorders.\u201d18<\/sup> In the early 1920s, psychoanalysis studies found that many cancer patients had experienced extreme psychological trauma, such as family separation or loss of loved one, prior to the illness.19<\/sup> The trauma remains deeply in the memory, fails to be resolved, and acts on the body to possibly induce carcinogenesis.<\/p>\n

There is a well-documented relationship between emotion and gynecological diseases, especially the depressive emotions, in TCM classic works. In the ancient TCM book, \u201cGynecology Collections\u201d (Fuke Yuchi<\/em>) of the Qing dynasty it states that: \u201cGynecological diseases are mostly related to blood issues. Women might often be anxious and angry, which impairs the liver; while the liver stores blood; women are often worried, which impairs the heart, while the heart commands blood; if the heart and liver are hurt, the blood would lose order and overflow.\u201d When investigating the association between marital status and immunity, behavioral scientists and immunologists found that, among the women who are separated and divorced, immune functions work less effective than those in married women.20 \u00a0<\/sup>Many empirical studies of the relationship between breast cancer and depressive or anxiety emotion also suggested that patients with breast cancer have a higher degree of depression and anxiety.21-24<\/sup><\/p>\n

During our clinical treatment of patients with gynecological disease, we have noticed that gynecological pathogenic depression stems mostly from an unhappy family life, such as that the marital relationship might not be harmonious, the children\u2019s education is not going as expected, or self-gender-identity is misaligned; in these situations the women would experience negative emotions like frustration, depression, and anxiety. The gynecological disease may often be the natural way for her to express or channel subconscious discontent, anxiety, pain, anger, guilt, repentance, depression, humiliation and other emotions related to marital life (especially sex), fertility, gender and other aspects. \u00a0For example, a patient found that she had uterine fibroids two weeks after she learned that her husband was having an affair. During this period, she continued to quarrel with him and was constantly accompanied by anger, grievance, rage, depression, and other emotions. Another patient who had an abortion and felt a strong sense of guilt, was often affected by this sense and could not forgive herself, so her cervical disease was very difficult to be treated.<\/p>\n

Therefore, during the treatment of tumors related to gynecological diseases we need to focus specifically on patient\u2019s inner emotional factors. As the TCM believes that \u201cMedicine can treat only half of the disease, while the other half lies not in the prescription, but in the treatment of the mind.\u201d When a patient’s mind is in a rigid state, the inner self is troubled by strong negative emotions. When these long-accumulated emotions are not released and resolved, they would continuously act on the body and are reflected as physical disease. \u00a0Under the guidance of this concept and tradition, an important method in treating gynecological disease is to discover the traumatic life experience which might be the cause behind the excessive emotion(s). \u00a0Once the patient could ease her inner psychological distress, let go of the negative emotion, and relieve the pressure on body by resolving the emotional backlog brought by these traumatic life experiences, her physical symptoms such as tumor would be significantly reduced as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EMOTIONAL SOOTHING THERAPY AND TWO CASE STUDIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Western psychologists have used Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) in treatment of emotional disorders like depression or anxiety, which helps individuals with emotional issues to transit from the previous object-processing model to a cognitive-behavior processing model, so as to achieve a reorganization of faith and behavior pattern.25<\/sup> The CBT mainly serves to change the individual\u2019s understanding of events or surrounding things, and to resolve the possible negative emotions. It reshapes the patient\u2019s state of mind, but is not directly connected with treatment of physiological disease.<\/p>\n

There are three common types of diagnosis-treatment methods in TCM, namely \u201cdifferentiate symptoms through response to treatment\u201d, \u201cunderstand it through similarity\u201d and \u201csummarize symptoms into one key point\u201d, namely abduction, analogy, induction.26<\/sup> The treatment method described here, Emotional Soothing Therapy (EST), is a combination of these three TCM treatment methods. \u00a0Created by Feng-yuan Bao from his clinical experience and special training, EST is a unique treatment or system based on close emotion-disease relationship by applying TCM meridian theory, energy balance, and psychotherapy to help channeling patient\u2019s emotional suppression or disturbance through energy-blockage points and inner dialogues so as to reduce or eliminate the emotion-related physical disease or discomfort.\u00a0 EST mainly focuses on the patient’s inner mind status, discovers the past traumatic life experiences that might cause emotion disturbance, compares different cases in which a variety of similar experiences lead to the similar diseases, and come to the conclusive understanding of root source of the specific type of disease. The frequently used methods or steps include emotional-disturbance identification, emotional-channeling dialogue, emotional release, and energy-blockage dredge, etc.<\/p>\n

EST starts with interviewing the patient with some key life experiences that may be related to the physical disease or symptom, then crack the root emotional cause for the symptom through key acupoint (energy points) examination, and then apply effective psychotherapy (let go and let out) and acupressure to treat and ease the symptoms. Since EST is relatively new in clinical application, we would like to use two examples to explain how the EST have been applied to treat patients with uterine fibroids as an illustration of this new treatment method.<\/p>\n

(1) Case 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms. Ye is a 46-year-old business woman, living in Guangdong with her own supermarket business. She has an associate degree, married with one child. Generally speaking she had a good health previously, and did not have any serious sickness except for occasional flu (cold) or stomach discomfort. In May 2016 she felt discomfort, went to hospital for a check-up, and found out she had large fibroids in her back uterine. She took some pills from the doctor after the visit, but did not take any medicine after June 30 (when the latest Ultrasound exam took place before her treatment by EST).<\/p>\n

She came for treatment of uterine fibroids on July 9, 2016. The only treatment session lasted about 30 minutes. First, the therapist let the patient lie facing down on a treatment table, and asked her to close her eyes and relax. \u00a0Following the principle of TCM meridian theory and treatment concept, the therapist applied light force to press one specific acupoint (EX-B7), the possible energy-blockage point that is related to uterine fibroids. The patient immediately reported that it was quite painful. Next, the following dialogue was carried out between therapist and the patient (as part of the emotional channeling dialogue to explore the key life-experience of emotional disturbance).<\/p>\n