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THE FIVE ELEMENTS, CONSTITUTIONAL TYPES AND THE EMOTIONS

A long-term study at York University¹ has confirmed what many of us already intuitively know — that our negative emotions can cause disease. Psychologists tracked the progress of thousands of young students over a thirteen-year period.

At the beginning of the study, each student was monitored over the course of two terms. Tests gauged their personality, how they coped with stress and how healthy they were.

From the study the researchers found that emotions had an important effect on whether we get ill. The students who were emotionally balanced were less likely to become ill. On the other hand, the ones who:

dwelt on the past

were unable to take in support from others

got irritable from working too hard

found it difficult to express their feelings, or

were unable to remain cool in difficult situations

were more likely to become ill.

The illnesses varied from headaches to heart troubles, but it was found that the people who were most often in these negative states were likely to have more serious illnesses. The researchers noted something that Chinese medicine has known for over two thousand years. This is, that negative emotions place us under a kind of permanent stress which causes us to become unhealthy.

In this book we will be discussing this obvious truth, that repetitive negative emotional states cause us to become ill and conversely, that regular, positive and balanced emotions can help to keep us well.²

This chapter will introduce us to the Chinese view of health, disease and our emotions. It will also explain how these relate to Chinese Five Element theory and the Five Element types. This chapter will also give us a thorough background to all aspects of the Five Element types. This includes a brief history, their relationship to our Organs, how our constitutional type originates and an overview of the positive and negative capacities of the types. We will also look in greater depth at how we become ill and how we are affected by our emotions. Before we go any further, however, let’s look at how the Chinese view disease.