Case Report

Psychophysiological reactions associated with Qigong therapy

Xu Shenghan 徐声汉

Case report

Case 1. Mr. A is a 22-year-old unmarried worker. He began to learn himself from Qigong books the “Wu Qin Xi” (exercise mimicking the gesture of five animals), on Nov. 26, 1984 for the treatment of lumbago. Ten days latter, he suddenly had “special cenesthesiopathy” with “Qi” flowed into his head, he felt fullness of head and chest distress. When showing a Qigong gesture, he suffered agony and anxiety, even attempting to commit suicide. Tow hours later he was sent to Shanghai Institute of Qigong for help. Guided by a Qigong master he recovered. The next day, he became delirious and claimed that he could hear the voice of evil spirits; he prayed to Buddha for help but only lost his self control. During the intervals of the attacks, the patient was normal. But he could not work normally due to insomnia and difficulty in coping with Qigong deviation.

On Jan. 15, 1985, the patient got upset because he was prevented by his family from doing Qigong exercise. He felt so hopeless that he attempted to commit suicide by bumping his head into a car. He was then sent to a hospital for psychiatric treatment. There were no abnormal findings in his physical and laboratory check-up. There was no history of psychosis in his family either. He was treated timely by ECT. Two days later, his father took him back home. Now he is followed up by a Qigong master and is so far in good health state.

Case 2. Mr. B is a 44-year-old married painter. He learned on his own the “He Xiang Zhuang (crane-flying Qigong)”, another school of Qigong in Feb, 1984, attempting treat his ailment, the hypertrophy of cervical vertebra. He had no personal psychiatric history, neither his family. Several days after Qigong exercise, he was suddenly agitated with hyperthermia. He claimed that he knew everything in the world, “water is associated with the sea, when he talked about the sea, he would think of the American Continent”.

Three days later, he was diagnosed as schizophrenia-like disorder and was treated in Shanghai Psychiatric Hospital. One month later, he had remission.

Later he turned to learn the “long Men Five Flow”, another school of Qigong. On the third morning he suddenly began to cry and dance, still doing Qigong exercise in bed. He thought that his dead mother would be brought back to life whereas he would become a ghost. He said that he could see Buddha and God, and he believed in religion. He also smelt something unusual. He was again admitted to shanghai Psychiatric Hospital.

Mental examination: the patient has emotional instability, with no delusion and hallucination, sometimes posing in a Qigong gesture and has intermittent attacks. EPQ: extroversion. MMPI: schizophrenic character. He was given 100 mg CPZ im, bid. A week later, he recovered from his illness and now works as before.

Attention should be paid to the prevention and treatment of various mental and physical disturbances due to Qigong deviation.