The Seven Emotions - Internal Cause of Disease

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The seven emotions in traditional Chinese medicine that are the root cause of disease are anger, joy, worry, pensiveness, sadness, fear, fright. Experiencing any of these emotions as a reaction to external stimuli is normal human behavior. Only when these emotions become sudden, extreme, uncontrollable, and chronic they disrupt the human state of health and become major cause of disease.

Each emotion corresponds to a certain organ. Joy relates to the Heart, anger relates to the Liver, sadness relates to the Lung, worry and pensiveness relate to the Spleen, and fear and fright relate to the Kidney. When excessive each of these emotions injure their corresponding organ and vice versa - if the organ is injured the corresponding emotion manifests.

One emotion may injure more than one organ.

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Liangyue, D., Yijun, G., Shuhui, H., Xiaoping, J., Yang, L., Rufen, W., Wenjing, W., Xuetai, W., Hengze, X., Xiuling, X., Jiuling, Y. (1987). Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press

Maciocia, Giovanni (1989). The Foundations of Chinese Medicine. Edinburgh: Harcourt Publishers Limited