WOOD:The Liver and the emotional ups and downs

by Jaime Kornsweig,L.Ac.,MSTOM

Susan,a very petite,yet physically lean and strong,29-year old woman,presents with emotional fluctuations or moods swings,which she refers to as “highs and lows.”  She has times of depressed mood,of elevated mood,of anger,and of anxiety. Her emotional fluctuations do not last for extended periods of time instead they shift weekly or even daily.  She admits that out of the range of emotions she experiences the most pathological,or inappropriately expressed,is anger.  Her feelings of emotional imbalance and her expression of anger are very much affected by interpersonal relationships as well as a preoccupation with her childhood,particularly her parents’ verbally abusive and over-controlling behavior.  Her inappropriate emotional responses affect her quality of life and motivate her to seek treatment.

Susan’s emotional fluctuations reached their peak approximately one year ago when she found out that her boyfriend was sleeping with multiple women on the side,and the moods swings were exacerbated four months later when she became estranged from her family.  She explains that she left controlling parents,only to enter into relationships with controlling men,men who monitored and regulated everything she did,yet never respected her nor “truly understood” her.  She is just now learning who she is and how to be independent,and although she feels free,the shock of her ex-boyfriends betrayal,the breakup itself,and her resentment towards her family are affecting her emotional stability.  Susan is coming into her own power and adjusting to a newfound freedom.  The emotional fluctuations can be viewed as growing pains associated with her transformation.  As she grows and transforms,she is learning how to manage and appropriately express her emotions without restraint.

Susan’s transitional state can be understood through an interpretation of the forty-first difficult issue in the Nan Jing:The Classic of Difficult Issues:

The liver is (associated with the) east and (with the phase of) wood.  Wood (corresponds to) spring.  During the time of spring all things begin to come to life;they are still young and small.  In their sentiments they are not yet close to anything.  (The period of spring) moves away from the great-yin (of winter) and is still near to it.  It is separated from the great-yang of summer but is not far away from it.  It appears to have two hearts.  Hence,(the liver) has two lobes.  This is also in correspondence to the leaves of wood.

Susan,like the wood phase and the springtime,is still young but approaching maturity.  Metaphorically speaking,she is leaving a period of darkness (the winter) and approaching a time of brightness (the summer).  She is stuck between the past and the future.  The line,“In their sentiments they are not close to anything,” as interpreted by Ting Te-yung in Paul Unschuld’s translation of the Nan Jing,means that one has lost their father and does not know their mother (Unschuld).  Susan left the home of her parents and entered into environments that were equally abusive and controlling.  Now she is on her own and without the control that she has become accustomed to since childhood.  She is releasing uncomfortable crutches and entering uncharted territory.

As Z’ev Rosenberg interprets Difficulty 41,“the liver has two lobes” because,as a shao yang organ,it reaches in two directions,backwards towards its mother,tai yin,and forwards towards a time of “flourishing growth,” tai yang.  He explains that the liver is associated with “time and transition,” coordinating the rhythmic flow of qi throughout the body,and ensuring the smooth flow of both the blood and the emotions. Rosenberg advises that the springtime is a time when one “clears out the old to generate the new” and “if we don’t move with the ever-moving now,that the liver qi stagnates.” (Rosenberg).

In her current state of extreme transition,and with her history of external controls,it is not surprising that Susan is having difficulty navigating the expression of appropriate emotions and is in turn inhibiting the smooth flow of her liver qi.  In the winter of her past,she was told how to act and who to be;everything was regulated for her.  Now,in the springtime of her growth,she has set herself free to live her own life.  She will find her power in the summer of her maturity,but in the present moment she needs to learn the rhythm of her natural emotions and how to regulate them.  If the liver is unable to freely course qi throughout the body emotional imbalance can arise,explaining Susan’s mood swings.  Also,anger is the natural emotion associated with the liver.  If anger is not expressed appropriately it can be pathological,further contributing to her emotional stagnation.

Susan’s depressed moods can be attributed to liver qi stagnation. Her elevated moods,as well as her anger and rage,can be attributed to liver gi stagnation leading to depressive heat/liver fire,which rise up to harass the heart. Her anxiety can also be attributed to the fire rising upward.