Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies: Psychology & Chinese Medicine

Behind the acupuncture, herbal remedies and sophisticated diagnostics of Chinese medicine lies a “congenial system of healing that embodies unification of body and mind, spirit and matter, nature and man, philosophy and reality.” In this comprehensive and ground-breaking presentation, based on long experience as physician, psychiatrist, and practitioner of Chinese medicine, Leon Hammer offers a new model for appreciating the traditional healer’s effective and profound respect for individual integrity and energetic balance. Explaining, and moving beyond, the five phase (element) system, he shows that this Eastern practice is as much a spiritual science as a physical one.

Accessible to the layman, yet a resource for the professional in any healing art, this book examines the natural energy functions of the human organism as a key to mental, emotional and spiritual health. It offers new insight into disease, showing how it is not merely an invasion from the outside, but rather a byproduct of a person’s unsuccessful attempt to restore one’s own balance.

"Hammer has plumbed the depths of this most ancient healing tradition and offered his findings like the master teacher that he is . . . A major contribution."
Pathways

"An excellent piece of work—honest, illuminating, and creative and I would recommend it to anyone with a serious interest in Oriental medicine."
Peter Eckman, M.D., Ph.D,

"Hammer argues cogently for a cause well worth taking seriously by health professionals and the public at large."
Publishers Weekly

"Dr. Hammer has brought new light to the depths of Chinese medicine."
Ted J. Kaptchuk, O.M.D.

CONTENTS
Map of Contents … ix
Foreword … xxi
Preface to Revised Edition … xxiii
Acknowledgements … xxv
Preliminary Distinctions … xxix
1 Chinese Medicine and Psychology:
Congenial Therapeutic Partners 1
2 Chinese Medicine and Psychology:
First Encounters and Empirical Implications 15
3 The Fundamental Energy Constructs of Chinese Medicine 31
4 Psychosomatic Medicine: West and East 47
5 The Traditional Five Phase System: Emotion and the Disease Process 59
6 A Revision of the Traditional Concepts of Emotion in the Context of the Five Phase System 77
7 Introduction to the Natural Functions and Disharmony States
of the Five Phase System 83
8 The Water Phase 99
9 The Wood Phase 139
10 The Fire Phase 163
11 The Earth Phase 215
12 The Metal Phase 247
13 Anxiety and Depression 269
14 The Systems Model of Dr. Shen 297
15 A Medical Model 375
16 A Recapitulation 391
Endnotes … 395
Bibliography … 407
Index … 413
About the Author … 437