Professor Li Dexin 's Experience In Treating Depression With The Theory Of "Regulating The Spleen And Strengthening The Stomach"

TCM documented this type of disease long before and classified this into the category of melancholia which first appeared in “Internal Classic. Plain Questions” in ancient time. These days, people tend to become increasingly busy and depressed. Facing the complicated interpersonal relationships and the heavy load in life and career, if one cannot pace themselves in time and properly, there is really a risk factor for emotional diseases. It a time of increasing concerns over melancholia, with the rise of its morbidity. The treatment of western medicine over this disease has limited efficacy and significant toxicity. In comparison, based on several thousand years of valuable experiences and theoretical explorations, the treatment theory of melancholia using TCM has become a comprehensive coverage of different kinds of effective classical prescriptions and current prescriptions laying a solid foundation for the further development.There is a controversy over the understanding of this disease. Professor Li claims that the diseased region of melancholia is in liver, and it has close relationship with heart, spleen and kidney. The key pathogenesis of this disease is believed to be qi obstruction which has rather close connection with the cardinal of the spleen and stomach. Meanwhile, spleen and liver are of the relationship of restriction, thus the stagnation of liver qi often attack spleen and cause its dysfunction in transportation. This kind of dysfunction can lead to the spleen-stomach disorder in ascending and descending which affect the dispersing of stagnated liver qi. Moreover, the normal operation of the stomach and spleen may not only coordinate qi of other zang-fu, but also keep qi, blood and body fluid sufficient due to the case that both stomach and spleen lie in the middle jiao like the old saying “spleen and stomach are acquired foundation”. Therefore, the present study regards “regulating spleen and stomach to make five zang fit” theory as guides and starts from treatise on spleen and stomach considering the relationship between spleen-stomach and other zang-fu. Then melancholia can be characterized into syndrome of liver stagnation and spleen deficiency, syndrome of intermingled phlegm and qi, syndrome of qi stagnation and blood stasis, syndrome of deficiency for both heart and spleen and syndrome of hyperactivity of fire due to yin deficiency according to the above theories. In the present study, combined with the actual case, the procedure for the treatment of melancholia has been clarified using the theories mentioned above.Above all, during the treatment of melancholia, keep in mind to adjust spleen-stomach, to do the TCM syndrome differentiation properly and to revise the decoction with symptoms on the basis of special prescription. Eventually, the symptom can end up with relief or even a cure.