An East Meets West Approach to the Understanding of Emotion Dysregulation in Depression: From Perspective to Scientific Evidence

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Jiajia Ye¹  Shuhe Cai³  Wai Ming Cheung⁴  Hector W. H. Tsang² 

[1] Department of Rehabilitation Assessment, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Subsidiary Rehabilitation Hospital;Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University;Department of Orthopaedic Rehabilitation, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Subsidiary Rehabilitation Hospital;Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

关键词: traditional Chinese medicine;    depression;    East meets West;    neuroscience;    neurophysiological pathway;    emotion;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00574

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Depression, an emotion regulation disorder, is a prevalent mental illness in the world. Meanwhile, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been increasingly regarded as a promising and effective alternative therapy approach for patients with depression. Despite many years of research on depression, the current understanding of the pathological mechanism of depression based on TCM theories is still in its infancy. Due to the lack of scientific evidence in the past, TCM is not fully recognized by researchers around the world. This review firstly summarizes the pathogenesis and etiology of depression in terms of both Eastern and Western medical systems. Secondly, it adopts an integrated Eastern and Western approach to propose some plausible neurophysiological pathways linking the liver, spleen, and heart functions explicated in TCM theory. The aim of this theoretical review is to bridge the knowledge gap between Eastern and Western medicine, which may better explain the pathology of depression.

【 授权许可】

CC BY