Hysteria

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Textbook Prescriptions Mental-Emotional

Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture (Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing Colleges of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1980) — the standard prescriptions of the Chinese colleges.

Points

CV14 Juque midline

Front-Mu point of the heart; settles the heart and calms the spirit
HT7 Shenmen bilateral

Yuan-Source of the Heart; calms the mind
SP6 Sanyinjiao bilateral

meeting of the three foot yin; nourishes blood to support the heart
- Pregnancy: contraindicated

Needling Safety

Cited hazards for these points. Tick what applies to the patient to see the cautions that follow from it.

Treatment Principle

Calm the mind and nourish blood by treating the heart through its Front-Mu and Yuan points.

Indications

unexplained low mood, confused speech, suspicion and irrational fearspalpitation, irritability or excessive sleepinesssudden attacks of choking sensation, hiccup, loss of voice or convulsionin severe cases fainting with loss of consciousnesswiry thin pulse

Method

Needle with the reducing method.

⚠ Cautions

Organic disease (epilepsy, cardiac arrhythmia, metabolic or neurological illness) and psychiatric emergencies must be excluded before attributing symptoms to hysteria; loss of consciousness needs medical assessment. SP6 is contraindicated in pregnancy, and of the add-ons LI4 too. CV14 overlies the liver and heart: needle obliquely and not deeply. Of the add-ons, CV22 needs the standard technique down behind the sternum, and CV17 is over the sternum.

About

The book's single prescription for hysteria, which it attributes to fire arising from frustration and emotional constraint.

Rationale

CV14 and HT7 are the Front-Mu and Yuan points of the heart, the organ that houses the mind, so together they quiet it directly. SP6, joining the three yin channels of the leg, nourishes the blood on which the heart depends.

Clinical Notes

Add by symptom: PC6 and CV17 for a stifling feeling in the chest; SP4 and CV22 to send qi down for hiccup; HT5 and CV23 for loss of voice; LI4 and LV3 to regulate the liver for convulsion; GV26 and KI1 to revive a patient who has fainted. The book notes that its hysteria corresponds to the Western diagnosis, though some forms overlap other Chinese disease categories. Ear points are also given (Ear-Shenmen, Heart, Kidney, Stomach, Subcortex and Sympathetic), two or three per session with strong stimulation.

Sources

Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, et al. Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1980. Chapter III, Hysteria, p. 373–374.

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