Week 8 Bio: How sophisticated is our understanding of cancer & how does the TCM approach differ?
Is our understanding of cancer sophisticated? and what is the TCM approach?
In some ways, I'm impressed with what we do know: how a normal cell functions vs. a cancer cell and what stages of the cell cycle go wrong, how genetics is involved such as with the p53 gene which inhibits apoptosis of cells when they incorrectly replicate themselves, or how cancer requires a steady supply of blood to feed it (angioneogenesis), even the involvement of hormones and how if we starve hormone dependent cancers of estrogen, for example, the cancer stops growing. Etc. etc.
We know a lot about cancer on a certain level, including its causes, but I still don't find our understanding very sophisticated.
I think we get closer to the ideal when we incorporate a Chinese medicine understanding where we include the whole person as an individual and their mental/emotional picture, as well as their environment. It's true, Western science considers the environment too, but more so in factors that have been proven or are measureable, and not in any personalized sense. For example, in TCM a "normal" environment is relative - where an arid desert may benefit someone with damp issues, it's not going to help someone with yin deficiency. This actually affects the body.
Recently I got a new textbook, Management of Cancer with Chinese Medicine by Li Peiwen. I haven't really started it, but here is a nice excerpt which sheds light on the emotional component of disease, it's about how very common negative emotions such as anxiety and thinking too much makes our bodies deficient which can lead to Phlegm buildup, or cancer:
"Internal damage caused by the seven emotions is an important factor in the formation of cancerous tumors... "ye ge (dysphagia and diaphragmatic occlusion, one of the main symptoms in esophogeal cancer) is due to depletion of and damage to Qi and Blood. Sorrow, anxiety, and excessive thought and preoccupation damage the Spleen and Stomach, consume the Blood and Body Fluids and cause Qi to stagnate, thus generating Phlegm. Once Phlegm is formed, it will obstruct the passages; Qi can ascend but cannot descend, and food intake is hindered... In most instances, ye ge arises due to anxiety and depression, which causes binding of Qi in the chest and generation of Phlegm. Phlegm eventually binds to form nodes and sticks in the Upper Burner, thus causing disease."
According to this text, the causes of cancer are: the six excesses (pathogenic factors), inappropriate diet, non-transforming of phlegm damp, qi stagnation with blood stasis, internal damage by seven emotions, and deficiency and depletion of zang-fu organs.
For the six excesses, that includes very common and seemingly innocuous things like wind invading the lungs, but they also include environmental agents related to specific cancers such as aflataoxins and liver cancer, asbestos and cancer of the pleura, radium and cancer of the kidney -- I appreciate this overlap!
Cancer in TCM can be many things. It can be severe blood stasis causing things to back up, it can be phlegm accumulation, or heat toxin. Either way, just like in Western medicine the body is not working optimally, I guess we sooner say certain organ systems, or qi, or blood is not working properly, whereas in Western medicine we talk about specific cells not working and that affecting a tissue.
On some level in the Western mindset, we actually do believe emotions play a role in disease. In her book Illness as Metaphor, Susan Sontag deconstructed the language we use around cancer, calling it a "disease of passion", similar to tuberculosis. Cancer was thought of a lack of passion, a repression, whereas tuberculosis was thought of as a disease of those too passionate (often romanticized in literature in this way, too). "According to the mythology of cancer, it is generally a steady repression of feeling that causes the disease."
It's fascinating because in our language (and much is owed by psychoanalysts Wilhelm Reich and Freud) we have identified an emotional cause of cancer - a very specific one!
I don't believe TCM pigeonholes us in the same way. Rather, organ systems are associated with certain emotions - anxiety, worry, and overthinking taxes our earth element, and our earth organs are related to digestion, the channel running through the esophagus - hence, esophageal cancer.
To me this shows that our Western minds understand that the emotions are important, but because we don't elevate the role of emotions in science we express this connection inevitably in a roundabout way, using metaphors which may help characterize the cancer but in no way help people who are dealing with cancer.
So the emotional and environmental causes are both present in Western and TCM thinking, but the TCM approach looks a lot more individualized and humane to me.
In some ways, I'm impressed with what we do know: how a normal cell functions vs. a cancer cell and what stages of the cell cycle go wrong, how genetics is involved such as with the p53 gene which inhibits apoptosis of cells when they incorrectly replicate themselves, or how cancer requires a steady supply of blood to feed it (angioneogenesis), even the involvement of hormones and how if we starve hormone dependent cancers of estrogen, for example, the cancer stops growing. Etc. etc.
We know a lot about cancer on a certain level, including its causes, but I still don't find our understanding very sophisticated.
I think we get closer to the ideal when we incorporate a Chinese medicine understanding where we include the whole person as an individual and their mental/emotional picture, as well as their environment. It's true, Western science considers the environment too, but more so in factors that have been proven or are measureable, and not in any personalized sense. For example, in TCM a "normal" environment is relative - where an arid desert may benefit someone with damp issues, it's not going to help someone with yin deficiency. This actually affects the body.
Recently I got a new textbook, Management of Cancer with Chinese Medicine by Li Peiwen. I haven't really started it, but here is a nice excerpt which sheds light on the emotional component of disease, it's about how very common negative emotions such as anxiety and thinking too much makes our bodies deficient which can lead to Phlegm buildup, or cancer:
"Internal damage caused by the seven emotions is an important factor in the formation of cancerous tumors... "ye ge (dysphagia and diaphragmatic occlusion, one of the main symptoms in esophogeal cancer) is due to depletion of and damage to Qi and Blood. Sorrow, anxiety, and excessive thought and preoccupation damage the Spleen and Stomach, consume the Blood and Body Fluids and cause Qi to stagnate, thus generating Phlegm. Once Phlegm is formed, it will obstruct the passages; Qi can ascend but cannot descend, and food intake is hindered... In most instances, ye ge arises due to anxiety and depression, which causes binding of Qi in the chest and generation of Phlegm. Phlegm eventually binds to form nodes and sticks in the Upper Burner, thus causing disease."
According to this text, the causes of cancer are: the six excesses (pathogenic factors), inappropriate diet, non-transforming of phlegm damp, qi stagnation with blood stasis, internal damage by seven emotions, and deficiency and depletion of zang-fu organs.
For the six excesses, that includes very common and seemingly innocuous things like wind invading the lungs, but they also include environmental agents related to specific cancers such as aflataoxins and liver cancer, asbestos and cancer of the pleura, radium and cancer of the kidney -- I appreciate this overlap!
Cancer in TCM can be many things. It can be severe blood stasis causing things to back up, it can be phlegm accumulation, or heat toxin. Either way, just like in Western medicine the body is not working optimally, I guess we sooner say certain organ systems, or qi, or blood is not working properly, whereas in Western medicine we talk about specific cells not working and that affecting a tissue.
On some level in the Western mindset, we actually do believe emotions play a role in disease. In her book Illness as Metaphor, Susan Sontag deconstructed the language we use around cancer, calling it a "disease of passion", similar to tuberculosis. Cancer was thought of a lack of passion, a repression, whereas tuberculosis was thought of as a disease of those too passionate (often romanticized in literature in this way, too). "According to the mythology of cancer, it is generally a steady repression of feeling that causes the disease."
It's fascinating because in our language (and much is owed by psychoanalysts Wilhelm Reich and Freud) we have identified an emotional cause of cancer - a very specific one!
I don't believe TCM pigeonholes us in the same way. Rather, organ systems are associated with certain emotions - anxiety, worry, and overthinking taxes our earth element, and our earth organs are related to digestion, the channel running through the esophagus - hence, esophageal cancer.
To me this shows that our Western minds understand that the emotions are important, but because we don't elevate the role of emotions in science we express this connection inevitably in a roundabout way, using metaphors which may help characterize the cancer but in no way help people who are dealing with cancer.
So the emotional and environmental causes are both present in Western and TCM thinking, but the TCM approach looks a lot more individualized and humane to me.
Super informative post, especially for someone who has yet to dive into the TCM studies. thank you! I appreciate the time and thought put into this. Particularly the impact of anxiety on the system from a TCM perspective. From this angle, there is less mystery around how cancer comes about. It actually makes a lot of sense-even when you see seemingly "healthy" individuals acquiring cancer. All the more reason to prioritize stress management and the channeling of emotions. I appreciate the acknowledgment that the emotion-cancer connection is recognized from both western and easter perspectives, though more deeply understood with TCM.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alex! This has been helpful to me as well! I especially like the quote, ""According to the mythology of cancer, it is generally a steady repression of feeling that causes the disease." I appreciate how it was worded. It is also reassuring me that it's okay to feel what I feel and I am not crazy in my mindset that I can't "just get over it" (really just sweep it under the rug and keep on truckin') like everyone else seems to be able to.
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