The origins of bipolar disorder seen from Traditional Chinese Medicine

From a French publication (Les troubles bipolaires:de la cyclothymie au syndrome maniaco-dépressif), It is known that great figures like Napoleon Bonaparte have bipolar disorder. After reading a bit about Chinese Medicine literature, I think maybe it is a classification trick that includes many great figures.

The TCM theory

气 (Qi): According to 黄帝内经, the five organs (心肝肺脾肾) creates Qi. Note that the organs in TCM does not correspond one to one to the organs in Western Medicine.

Emotions (喜怒哀乐) disturbs Qi in different ways. In particular, Happiness makes Qi calmer.

志 (Goal): A Goal creates Thought.

A person is has Shen (神, the mental energy) and Form (形, the physical form).

思 (Thought): Too much Thought/thinking wastes Qi and harms Shen.

Having too great an ambition damages Shen. This is why I call bipolar disorder a classification trick, since according to Chinese Medicine, there is cause and effect between ambition and this mental disorder.

Having too much ambition is just one possible source of emotional disorder. There are way more sources where an emotional disorder can arise from.

How to cure bipolar disorder, according to TCM

Live with daily schedule according to the seasons (see《黄帝内经・素问》四氣調神大論第二) , eat well (寒热湿燥风 every kind of food has certain properties that can affect the body), exercise well (depending on the body status, different exercise fits it).

References

黄帝内经 - Wikisource