Chinese Medicine Notes

Excess and Deficiency by Julian Scott

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Yael

In a previous post I started to talk about Julian Scott’s book- Acupuncture in the Treatment of Children.
Shahar is going through a great time, even with the latest cough he’s in a great mood, and we were able to stop the attack in time so we feel very good parents.
This great time allows me to read a bit more quietly about Julian’s observation between an excess type child and a deficiency type child.

The importance of diagnosing
We’re talking about a basic principle in Chinese Medicine in general (excess/deficiency), and Julian stresses that when it comes to children, it is even more basic.
A deficiency type person will be different than an excess type person, this we know by the middle of our 2nd year in school. In children it is even more obvious.
It makes sense, remembering that children don’t have the masks us adults have, children don’t have the weight of the years upon them that one might see in an adult’s eyes. Granted there are other problems, but in general, it is easier to know if we have a case of excess or deficiency when we diagnose a child.

There’s no better type.
Both types of children can live wonderful and long lives, both types are good and each has it’s strong sides and weaker sides.
This simple diagnosis is the foundation of our treatment of a child, on this we will base our chlice of points and principle of treatment.

Excess Type
The sentence I liked from the book: “You feel when looking at the eyes that there is someone in there- a force to be reckoned with”.
Good appetite, curious eyes that scan everything, can not be ignored, loud cry, loud screams…
Julian describes the excess type child with kind humor which leaves you very little doubts about what he means when he says “excess type”.

Since you never met my boy, I can not give him as an example of excess type child.
But there is another child, with international exposure, that might help you remember the excess type child a bit better. For the example click here.
Yes, I know, this is not the perfect example, but I think it’s good enough to get the general idea.

Deficiency type
Almost the exact opposite of what has been said about excess: weak cry, poor appetite and choosy about the food, being scared easily, rather to read books or watch tv and so on.
Julian talks about something in the eyes of a deficiency type child that is very destinct, something that is rather dull.
Does this mean this has something to do with Shen of that child?

There are a number of deficiency type children that come to mind, but again, they lack the international exposure, so here’s a better known child to do my work for me- click here.

And again- the importance of diagnosing
Anyone who heard Julian talk knows that he aims to keep everything simple.
The more we keep it simple, the better we will diagnose the child infront of us and it will be easier for us to choose the best points. That is why it is so important to make the basic diagnosis between deficiency type child and an excess type child.
If the child is deficiency- we need to tonify. If the child is excess- we need to disperse.
Julian urges us to re-visit this basic diagnosis every now and then, to be sure that we reached the right diagnosis and are giving the child the best suited treatments.

5 basic patterns
Julian talks of 5 basic patterns that are quite common:
Accunulation disorder
Spleen Qi deficiency
Hyperactive Spleen Qi deficiency
Hyperactice Kidney Qi deficiency
LPF

Julian is going back to the start- we have 2 important systems we look at when we treat children- immune system (which involves the respiratory system) and the digestive system.
Since we start talking about the accumulation of food, we again see the importance of digestion in the life of children. This is the most common pattern in Julian’s clinic, and that is why this is the first pattern he writes about.

The connection between child and parent
Julian stops to talk about the special bond between mother and child (or father and child).
This is no secret that we can treat the mother to treat the child. From my personal experience with Shahar, I can say that many were the times where Shahar got the needles and I felt the affect of the needles, almost immediatly. It’s not just seeing my boy reacting, but it’s as if something inside me opens up or calms down.
Julian writes about this bond beautifully, I recommend you read this short section, pg. 35-39.

Over to you
Any thoughts? Comments? Have you read about these patterns and have something you would like to say?
I would love to read your comments here.