Good Morning Andrew, Thank you for sharing your teaching gift with us. My brain is definitely creating new neural pathways to absorb this new material. :) From my understanding of your TCM philosophy, when any patient comes to you, as you have mentioned ad finitum, you "treat the person not the disease." So when a child, let's say, a 5 yo boy on the Autism Spectrum, comes to you, the manifestations of that disorder that are particular to that child will be addressed, with symptoms such as: hyperactivity, inability to connect socially (like no eye contact), minimal verbal communication, lack of social cue understanding, repetitive behavior, or self-harming (head-banging or self-hitting). I would imagine that the disharmony pattern would be the Heart Fire Blazing. I remember that you said that Turretts could be likened to Liver Wind Agitating Within but ASD is a little different (as you mentioned). Questions: 1. Is this Heart Fire Blazing assessment correct? 2. Does TCM offer some relief to those with an Autism Spectrum diagnoses? 3. Have you had any success clinically alleviating any such ASD symptoms? My little nephew is on the spectrum and has been doing pretty well with therapeutic socio-behavioral interventions, but nothing medically has been implemented. I know this is a huge issue, but would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much, Nina

Andrew said: Hi Nina, For this type of issue, you could consider patterns involving (insubstantial) phlegm such as phlegm misting the heart. There is a psycho-spiritual aspect of metal element dysfunction that is evident in difficulties interfacing with the external world. Heart patterns (maybe fire, maybe not) are also in consideration here because of the consciousness aspect of the shen. We also can look at this as a kidney jing issue. It is always important to look at his digestion/elimination and consider spleen patterns. Suffice it to say that these cases are complicated! If you can get herbs into this little guy, they certainly could help his wellness and growth over time.

Thank you very much Andrew!