Kampo medicine, which has been developed in Japan through Edo era from last part of the Muromachi era from Chinese classics, is one of Japan's original traditional medicines. From a modern psychiatric viewpoint, there is little evidence of evaluation of psychiatric symptoms and treatment of psychiatric disorders based on the Kampo medicine system until modern times, and there are almost no concrete references about the methodologies of the psychotherapy. Therefore, Kinkei Nakagami (1744-1835) is an expert medical doctor, whose achievement deserves attention, because he is probably the only doctor who has actively accepted treatment of psychiatric disturbance and explained psychiatric symptoms in detail on the basis of the Kampo medicine system from the early modern times to modern times.
He suggested optimal strategies for treatment and practiced highly individualized treatment, based on acute observation about the clinical condition. On the other hand, he respected adaptation to circumstances, avoided writing a textbook, and resisted holding fixed ideas and preconceived notions. However, we can learn about his medical practice from several textbooks, because his pupils were anxious that his methods might get buried in history and edited some textbooks to include medical practice methods.
In this article, I extract several concrete descriptions of his medical practice that seem to be significant from a psychiatric practice point of view, and try to apply his medical practice to modern psychiatry.
Author's abstract
Reconsideration from a Modern Psychiatric Viewpoint of the Kampo Medicine Practice of Kinkei Nakagami
1 Hospital Bando
2 Research Department of Japanese Oriental (Kampo) Medicine, Akashi Clinic
2 Research Department of Japanese Oriental (Kampo) Medicine, Akashi Clinic
Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica
124: 538-545, 2022
<Keywords:Kinkei Nakagami, Kampo, Edo era, traditional medicine, psychiatric symptoms>