There is a great potential for Chinese medicine in mental disorders.

What is the greatest threat to human health in the future? Is it cancer or cardio-cerebral vascular disease? The World Health Organization pointed out that the biggest disease facing humanity in the 21st century is mental illness. Recently, at the Fourth Chinese Medical Psychology Academic Conference organized by the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, some experts pointed out that in the face of menacing mental illness, Chinese medicine has great potential.

High prevalence but low consultation rate

In 2009, pop singer Chen Lin committed suicide due to depression, which has caused people's intense concern about depression. In recent years, suicides and killings caused by mental factors have continued. According to the World Health Organization, in China, mental disorders ranked first in the total burden of the disease, which has surpassed cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, system diseases, and malignant tumors. Relevant experts said that due to the rapid economic and social changes, the great psychological shocks have caused the incidence of mental illness to increase year by year, and have become one of the factors that threaten social stability in our country.

Among various mental disorders, depression is a mental disorder that involves a very wide range of people. About 340 million people worldwide have been or are suffering from depression. In China, the prevalence of depression among adult residents is 6.1%. Of all suicides, 40% suffer from depression. Depression patients also have a higher proportion of chronic diseases than the general population.

However, many people with mental illness are not positive about the diagnosis because they are afraid of being seen as "alternative" by people around them. Taking depression as an example, the treatment rate of mild mental disorders is only 8.3%, and the recurrence rate of outpatient treatment for major depressive disorders is as high as 40%; of the patients with depression, 59% are treated in non-psychiatric specialties.

In general, China's current treatment rate for mental illness is relatively low, but the rate of shedding and recurrence are relatively high.

Chinese medicine has a unique role in comprehensive intervention

During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Department of Psychology of the Guang'anmen Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences established the Psychological Clinic of the Chinese Medicine Center at the Medical Insurance Center of the Olympic Games and tried to use the psychological treatment of traditional Chinese medicine in the Olympic Games to ensure the decompression of athletes. Special clinics have kept foreign visitors and helpers in a constant stream.

Wang Weidong, director of the Department of Psychology at Guang'anmen Hospital, said that Chinese medicine is rooted in Chinese traditional culture and the soil of traditional Chinese medicine. It also draws on the nutrients of modern Western culture and clinical psychology, and has a strong combination of Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of modern mental illness. Can play an important role.

As early as more than 2,000 years ago, China's classic TCM book “Huang Di Nei Jing” once recorded “emotional illness” (also known as mental and mental illness today). In the course of the struggle against such diseases, Chinese medicine has formed the core theories of the treatment of mental diseases such as the concept of the oneness of the shape of God, the sentiments of the five internal organs, and the mind of God.

Professor Zhou Zhouke, director of the Department of Psychology at Shenzhen City Hospital, believes that Chinese medicine psychology has unique local cultural advantages and has broad prospects for development. A study conducted by the hospital compared the therapeutic effects of comprehensive TCM interventions with Western medicine and cognitive therapy on depression. The two-year clinical observation showed that comprehensive intervention in traditional Chinese medicine can improve the quality of life of patients, reduce depression and reduce the rate of recurrence of symptoms, and its effect is better than Western medicine and cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy combined with traditional Chinese medicine has a positive effect on preventing the recurrence of depression.

Zhou said that the reality urgently requires Chinese medicine practitioners to be involved in the treatment of mental illness. However, the treatment model for mental illness in Chinese medicine is still being explored in China. There are still unclear symptoms, unclear diagnosis, single or even unreliable treatment methods, and unstable therapeutic effects. And other issues. He believes that clinical practice is the foundation of TCM psychology. Promoting theoretical sublimation and technological innovation from clinical practice is the development direction of TCM psychology.