A well known instance of psychologically induced depression is that experienced by women following childbirth. The extreme effort required by body and mind during the process of labor can exhaust the Qing of the Kidney, especially it’s adaptive reserves (Essence or Jing)-what medical biologist Hans Selle termed adaption energy. The immediate elation of accomplishment and fulfillment, the pleasure and joy by the Heart, cannot be sustained and is soon followed by feelings of fatigue, apathy, insecurity, melancholy, and emptiness because of the weakness of the Kidney. The desire for happiness and delight in motherhood remain, but the power to engage the self is dimished. This is one reason why, in Chinese society, the ideal support for a new mother is focused on ensuring optimal rest, nutrition, and protection from emotional and physical and strain so that her body is able to adequately replenish it’s adaptive reserves of Qi, Blood and Essence. If restoration of Kidney Qi does not occur in a timely manner, depression may become chronic and potentially devolve into a much more serious and complex condition with additional features such as anxiety, panic, paranoia, uncontrolled weeping, disassociation and paralysis of motivation or will.
Efrem Korngold, LAc, O MD1 and Harriet Beinfield, LAc1, Chinese Medicine and the Mind
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