Hysteria is a type of mental disorder caused by stimuli from mental factors such as anger, fear, grievance, and sadness, or by negative suggestions. This condition is more common in young people, with females being more affected than males. Patients are susceptible to suggestions and self-suggestions, easily influenced by the external environment, have strong emotional reactions, poor self-control, and are prone to impulsiveness, willfulness, and irritability. Once subjected to mental stimulation, they may have an episode. The manifestations of hysteria can be summarized into two categories: one is the symptoms dominated by excitement, such as crying or laughing, agitation, making a fuss, incoherent speech, waving of hands and feet, verbosity, or stiffening of the limbs and holding of breath; the other is the symptoms dominated by inhibition, such as depression, low mood, closing the eyes and not speaking, aphonia, blindness, limb paralysis, reduced or disappeared sensation, etc. Hysteria falls under the categories of "visceral restlessness" and "depression" in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The etiology and pathogenesis are due to emotional injury leading to the reversal of the flow of qi.
Qi and Yin Deficiency Type: The patient experiences mental confusion, restlessness, mood swings with unpredictable bouts of sadness, joy, and laughter, frequent yawning during the day, and nighttime excitement with insomnia. There may also be involuntary dancing movements, tremors in the limbs, hot flashes, night sweats, and a sensation of heat in the hands and feet. The tongue is red with little coating, and the pulse is thin, rapid, and weak.
Phlegm and Qi Interference Type: The patient appears dispirited, with depressive mood and indifferent expressions, experiencing chest tightness, poor appetite, frequent sighing, belching, nausea, and a sensation of blockage in the throat that cannot be coughed up or swallowed. The tongue coating is white and greasy, and the pulse is taut and smooth.
Liver Qi Stagnation Type: The patient experiences depressive mood, suspicion, and overthinking, with chest tightness and rib pain, frequent sighing, abdominal bloating, poor appetite, and reduced food intake. There may also be sudden episodes of falling to the ground, cold extremities, spasmodic rigidity of the limbs, tightly closed eyes, and recovery after a while. In women, this is often accompanied by breast distension and pain, menstrual irregularities, or dysmenorrhea. The tongue is pale, with a white coating, and the pulse is taut.
Phlegm-Heat Intermixture Type: The patient is irritable and prone to anger, coughing up thick and yellow phlegm, thirsty but not wanting to drink, with red urine and constipation, headache, red face, a sensation of qi rushing from the lower abdomen to the chest and throat, feeling extremely agitated, fainting and falling to the ground, and spasmodic rigidity of the limbs. The tongue is red, with a yellow, thick, and greasy coating, and the pulse is smooth and rapid.
It is recommended to perform moxibustion once a day, targeting 2 to 3 acupoints each time, with each acupoint being treated for 30 to 40 minutes. Rotate the points treated, with a 10-day period constituting one course of treatment, and then rest for 2 to 3 days before continuing with the next course. (If time permits and there is a need, more acupoints can be treated with moxibustion. The specific duration should be adjusted according to one's own physical needs.)
1. Maintain calmness and place the patient in a quiet room to isolate them. During the relief period, persist in using moxibustion for conditioning. 2. Tea therapy recipe: Sweet Wheat and Jujube Decoction. 6 grams of licorice, 6 grams of Ophiopogon japonicus, and 3 jujubes, to be used as a tea infusion. One dose per day.