Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies: Psychology & Chinese Medicine (Revised Edition)

Leon I. Hammer


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.

REVIEWS

"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 

 Foreword 

 Preface to Revised Edition 

 Acknowledgements 

 Preliminary Distinctions 

 Chinese Medicine and Psychology: Congenial Therapeutic Partners 

 Chinese Medicine and Psychology: First Encounters and Empirical Implications 

 The Fundamental Energy Constructs of Chinese Medicine 

 Psychosomatic Medicine: West and East 

 The Traditional Five Phase System: Emotion and the Disease Process 

 A Revision of the Traditional Concepts of Emotion
 in the Context of the Five Phase System 

 Introduction to the Natural Functions and Disharmony States of the Five Phase System 

 The Water Phase 

 The Wood Phase 

 The Fire Phase 

 The Earth Phase 

 The Metal Phase 

 Anxiety and Depression 

 The Systems Model of Dr. Shen 

 A Medical Model 

 A Recapitulation 

 Endnotes 

 Bibliography 

 Index 

 About the Author

 Other titles by: Leon I. Hammer
Handbook of Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis