PDF File - Asclepius Herbal Consultancy

To the Heart of the Matter
or psychological state that is related to CV disturbance is that of the depressive, anxious and
worrying Melancholic.
Within the more recent interpretations of the humoral principles (see section 5.1.1.) Steiner, writing
in 1909, makes a striking observation, in which he relates the Melancholic temperament to
disturbances in the nervous and endocrine systems (Steiner 1984). Seen in the light of the
biomedical understanding of the nervous and endocrine systems during this time it is difficult to
comprehend the level of insight that is inherent in this proposal. However, as is shown previously,
the observation is an accurate description of the areas of physiological disturbances that are related
to negative expression within PNE.
Physiomedicalist understanding associates the concepts of contraction and relaxation with the
activity of the ANS. A summary of these principles, interpolated from descriptions of herbal
remedy activity (see section 5.3.), is summarised in appendix XIV: fig. 9. This semi-rational
ideology was initially developed towards the end of the 19 th and beginning of the 20 th century C.E.
(see sections 5.2.1. & 5.4.), and as such should be considered as being a revolutionary concept when
placed in its conceptual timeframe.
In relation to an understanding of the circulatory equilibrium, the concept of contraction and
relaxation explains how CV system disturbances, expressed at the level of the vascular system, can
by implicated in the development of conditions effecting the heart (see appendix XII: fig. 8.).
Contraction at the vascular level is considered to stress cardiac function (Priest & Priest 1983), and
is associated with sympathetic activity. Within the concepts proposed by PNE, stress is described as
influencing sympathetic vasomotor activity and is one of the mechanisms implicated in CV illness
aetiology (see appendix VI: fig. 4. & VII: fig. 5.). The description of the herbal remedy Convallaria
majalis within Physiomedicalism, explains the activity of the remedy in states of vascular over-
contraction, where its action is to correct sympathetic ANS imbalance (see section 5.3.). There is a
clear common understanding of how ANS imbalance can effect vascular activity, and how this can
be related to CV illness.
The Physiomedicalist concept of contraction and relaxation can also be related to the PNE
understanding of the active and passive stress responses proposed by Nielsen (1989) (see section
4.1.). The active stress response is characterised by enhanced sympathetic activity which, with
prolonged exposure to stressors, resolves to the state of the passive stress response (ibid.). Within
Physiomedicalist understanding, it is proposed that states of prolonged over-contraction,
corresponding to sympathetic activity (see appendix XIV: fig. 9.), eventually result in exhaustion of
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