I exchanged emails the other day egarding the subject of emotions and organ imbalances from the perspective of Chinese medicine. The person I was conversing with was saying that as she understood it anger is the emotion of the bladder as is mentioned from the perspective of others who have written on this condition.

First, I want to underscore my absolute position that this condition is NOT YOUR FAULT!. And sometimes when a subject liket his comes up, it is on the border of suggesting it is. I do not agree! In my opinion and with everything I have also learned in my years of education in Chinese medicine-emotions and organ imbalances are a two way street. Emotions often effect your organs, but just as often, and I beleive actually even more commonly, the emotions that are being expressed by a person are a result of the organ imbalance in the body.

There may also be a complex series of emotions that are rather overlaying one another and this helps to zero in on all of the organs that may be disturbed and how. A simplistic chart on this subject may be found at- http://www.orientalmedicine.com/five-element. There are different expressions of the same emotion depending on the imbalance though, so these emotions may be further differentiated depending on if the imbalance is excess or deficiency. Anger for example is correlated with the liver, but, if the liver is excessively disturbed, a person will express outward rageful anger, whereas if it is deficient, feelings of depression and internalizing anger will be more common.  Anger as it relates to the Liver may often be involved with IC because of all that I have explained in my dissertation relating to microbial translocation effecting the Liver. When the Liver is excessive, it can go down and effect the Kidneys via the 5 Elemental cycle as well as the Zang Fu cycle-too long an explanation here. Basically the Liver effects the genitalia. So, when the Liver is toxic, the genitals are typically effected-the entire urogential region. So, this is more how I would connect the dots between IC and anger when in actuality anger is not directly related to the bladder itself, it is fear.

As practitioners, these are the kinds of things wer are looking for when we are listening to people as we observe them. Sighing, for another example, is typically indicative of frustration. People with Liver imbalances often sigh a lot-this is an expression of an emotional state. 

People who have IC very often have anxiety disorders-this is correlated with the Heart imbalance. The Small Intestine falls in the same category. Interesting right?! What is even more interesting is the Liver, which is very correlated in Western medicine with the lymphatic system is referred to as “the mother of the Heart”-which is the Fire Element (remember also containing the small Intestine). 

To get quite personal, but, I am happy to share, this subject came up in conversation because I need to get on an airplane next week due to a family tragedy and I am so utterly afraid of flying. This was not true in my entire yought. My father had his own small aricraft and we would fly with him as children. In my early 20’s I had a life saving kidney surgery. That was a game changer for me-since then fear set in in many areas of my life and most especially effected my ability to fly. Air is the opposite of Water (the Kidney energy). So, you see the logice? Not enough Kidney energy (my kidneys were anatomically changed). I cannot bear to be in the air. The Air lessens the Water even further.

Is this interesting to you? It is one of endless interesting subjects in Chinese medicine. Alot of this crosses over to 5 Element theory-for more reading on this a great book is “Between Heaven and Earth”. Chinese medicine offers insight into the human body in this completely different way-so many different thoeries and all so beautiful.

Again, not placing blame, but suggesting that insight should be applied to understand the human body even better as these imbalances are correlated with emotions.

Dr.M