Anxiety
Overview
Anxiety presents with persistent or episodic worry and nervousness, restlessness, palpitations, chest tightness, shortness of breath, sweating, dizziness, muscle tension, and disturbed sleep. Chinese medicine groups it under constraint syndrome (yu zheng), mainly from emotional frustration causing the liver to lose its coursing function with qi stagnation; over time it damages the heart and spleen, deprives the heart spirit of nourishment, or transforms to fire that injures yin, closely involving the liver, heart, spleen, and kidney. TCM support works best alongside lifestyle and psychological care.
Pattern differentiation (clinical patterns)
Liver Constraint & Qi Stagnation
Low or irritable mood with restlessness, chest and rib fullness, frequent sighing, epigastric stuffiness, belching, bloating and poor appetite, often worse premenstrually in women, thin white coating, wiry pulse.
Soothe the liver and resolve constraint; regulate qi and loosen the middle.
Heart-Spleen Dual Deficiency
Overthinking and worry with timidity, palpitations, insomnia, poor memory, lusterless face, dizziness, fatigue, poor appetite, pale tongue with white coating, fine weak pulse.
Fortify the spleen and nourish the heart; tonify qi and blood.
Connections
Daily care & prevention
Keep regular hours and reduce caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. Regular aerobic exercise, breathing/mindfulness practice, and Baduanjin help lower arousal. Maintain sleep hygiene, limit stimulation before bed, journal, and stay socially connected. Massage Shenmen (HT7), Neiguan (PC6), Taichong (LR3), Baihui (GV20), and Yintang.
When to seek medical care
Seek urgent mental-health or emergency care for thoughts of self-harm or suicide, panic attacks with overwhelming fear or persistent chest symptoms (first rule out cardiac emergencies), or inability to function in daily life.