BY HEINER FRUEHAUF

The concept of an inseparable body mind continuum is one of the main characteristics of Eastern thought. In classical Chinese medicine, therefore, bodymind continuum mental activity has always been considered to be inseparable from bodily functions, and mental diseases were generally not treated differently from any other disorder. The Chinese term 'yuzheng' (depression), for instance, refers to stagnation on both a physical and mental plane, and is usually addressed with the same diagnostic and therapeutic means as diseases that would be considered to have entirely physi cal origins in the West.