TCM Basics 101: Root for illnesses: Fear
Everyone is fearful of somethings, some people are afraid of insects, some are afraid of the dark, some are afraid of pests, some of animals, some of food. On a deeper level, fear can indeed paralyze us from things that we really wanted, just because of the imaginary negative possibilities made up purely in our heads.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, fear is closely related to the organ Kidney. Too much fear or a sudden flux of fear can hurt the Kidney. In scientific terms, fear drives adrenaline to be pumped into the body to put it in a fight-or-flight mode to face with possible dangers out there. And adrenaline comes from the adrenal glands which are two small tiny glands sitting on the Kidney. When the adrenal glands are sapped too much of energy because they are overworked to pumped out the hormone adrenaline in large amounts, it can tap into the backup reserves in Kidney and suck life out of them too. Then this goes into a vicious cycle when the Kidney is drained and more fear will be emitted, and with more fear, the Kidney is hurt even more.
