Depression can be a chemical illness and not simply a behavioral / cognitive matter. It can be considered in some ways like other mental illness...not the fault of anyone...just illness. At other times, it can be emotionally based if one has progressed to depression from grieving / trauma etc.
People find it hard to believe that emotions are the root case of cancer other than environmental causes. (found
here)
Repressed emotions can cause disease. How this disease manifests in each of us is completely individualized. Releasing emotions can heal disease. Even cancer. Even diseases that Western medicine deems incurable. (found
here)
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In the case of what may be termed depression in modern society, the causes are often (but not always) attributed to emotional strain and the result of stagnated Qi flow (1). (found
here)
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Traditional Chinese medicine claims that emotions and physical health are closely connected. Seven natural human emotions such as
joy, anger, sadness, pensiveness, grief, fear and
fright are understood as inner causes of diseases. Emotional activity is a physiological reaction to the environment, but emotional stress breaks the functions of human organs which lead to diseases. It is normal to feel all of these seven emotions, problems occur when a particular emotion is experienced for a long time what leads to imbalance and the balance in TCM is a key factor. ( found
here)
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Emotions play a big role in TCM. For example, lack of appropriate emotional response or inappropriate or excessive emotional response may lead to disease of the related organ. Weakness in any organ system may lead to emotional weakness or imbalance. Emotional factors can cause functional changes in one or more organs at the same time. (found
here)
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]In Chinese medical theory, one of the major internal causes of disease is the Seven Emotions:
anger,
worry,
fear, fright,
anxiety,
grief, and joy. (found
here)[/FONT]