Treating the mind also means treating thoughts and emotions.
In the west, the brain is consider the house for thoughts and feelings. In Chinese medicine it is the organs that are responsible for the emanation of emotions. The organs are the bridge between the spirit and the body. When an incident happens, we perceive it, then have a reaction. Perception is the quantification of the relationship between the intensity of the physical stimuli and the perceptual effects. An emotional response arises after the energetic movement of the incident reverberates through out the body. The emotional reaction will manifest from the corresponding organ that relates to the incident. As we grow from our experiences in life, we take from the genetics gifts from our parents, also known as Jing, and the influences from our surroundings to understand and react to situations that manifest before us.
As we learn to understand and react to everyday occurrences an emotional disposition develops. A lens, if you will, has become the filter in which we perceive occurrences. Whether it be fear, anger, worrisome, joyful, optimistic, pessimistic, etc..these emotional lenses color our perceptions that are very diagnostic. Since each organ is associated to an emotion it can be correlated to the appropriate organ and physical symptoms. Stomach ulcers can be correlated to a worrisome person.
Through careful and thorough diagnostics it can be determined where a person “lives”, that is how they react and understand the world. As the saying goes we are only as strong as our weakest link. Over time, our emotional tendencies can have a detrimental effect on the quality of our health. The worrisome person with stomach ulcers, is more than likely a very caring and nurturing person that is a great gift to their community. But over time they have given of them selves so much that it has come at a price to their health. By only tending their physical level symptoms, healing the ulcers, only half the healing process has begun. Because the emotional imprint will keep feeding into the physical symptom.