Can a strong emotion really help me overcome another emotion I'm stuck in, and how did ancient Chinese doctors actually do this?

Many people have experienced moments when a low or irritable mood lingers, and no matter how much they tell themselves to 'just think positive,' it doesn't help. So, when hearing the idea of 'using another emotion to counteract it,' one might be skeptical—it sounds both ancient and intuitive, yet seems to lack a modern psychological context. In fact, 'overcoming one emotion with another' is not just a folk saying passed down by word of mouth; it is a line of thinking with a basis in classical texts and historical medical cases. Understanding its original form not only helps readers grasp the holistic view of emotions in Chinese medical culture but also prompts reflection on the tension between 'cognition' and 'experience' in modern psychotherapy.

The entry point for this article is a question that resonates most with an ordinary reader: When a person is stuck in a certain emotion, can a stronger emotion be used to 'pull them out'? If so, how did ancient doctors actually do this? And how does this approach differ from what modern psychology calls 'emotion regulation'? With these questions in mind, let's look at how a 2026 academic paper organizes the relevant records from classical Chinese medical literature.

The paper's abstract clearly identifies two key features of this 'overcoming one emotion with another' approach. The first feature is designing a new scenario that provides the person with an 'embodied' alternate experience in the real world, thereby eliciting a strong emotion capable of overcoming the one they were previously indulging in. In other words, ancient physicians did not rely solely on reasoning but deliberately arranged a scene that would genuinely stir a person's emotions. For example, when a person was stuck in excessive worry and could not break free, the physician might design an event that could provoke another strong emotion, allowing the person to be truly 'pulled out' on a physical level.

The second feature is the method of implementation: this scenario was usually not arranged by the physician alone but realized through one of two channels—either by collaborating with a person close to the individual, with a family member or trusted friend playing a key role, or by the physician securing the person's full trust. This condition is repeatedly emphasized in ancient medical cases because, without a foundation of trust, even the most cleverly designed scenario cannot truly activate an emotional transformation. This also means that this approach is essentially a 'healing within a relationship,' not an isolated technical operation.

On a comparative level, the paper points out that the way Chinese medicine views emotions within a holistic bodily system and the way Spinoza places emotions within his philosophical system reveal more variability than commonality. In particular, although Spinoza recognizes the role of emotion in human functioning, his approach to emotion regulation is fundamentally rationalistic—relying on understanding and knowledge to master the affections. The classical Chinese approach is closer to 'letting another emotion truly happen.' At the same time, after reviewing contemporary psychological science and psychotherapy literature, the author observes that cognition plays an 'intriguing role' in the regulation and transformation of emotions, which opens up space for re-examining the classical Chinese approach that emphasizes experience and relationship. Finally, against this background, the author evaluates the contributions and limitations of this classical 'overcoming emotion with emotion' thinking and explores possible directions for its integration with advancements in contemporary psychotherapy.

To put it in plain terms, the classical Chinese medical concept of 'overcoming one emotion with another' is built on a premise: emotion is not just a thought in the brain but a holistic state intertwined with the body's qi, blood, and organ activities. Precisely because emotion is a 'whole-body' phenomenon, transforming it often requires another equally 'whole-body' intense experience, not just verbal persuasion. This is why physicians in ancient medical cases would go to great lengths to arrange a real scenario, ensuring the person's emotions were 'genuinely stirred.'

Here, we can refer to a passage from the *Huangdi Neijing·Lingshu* (The Spiritual Pivot). It states: 'Excessive worry and pensiveness injure the heart; severe cold injures the lung; fury and anger injure the liver; drinking alcohol and then engaging in sexual activity, or sweating and then being exposed to wind, injures the spleen; excessive exertion, or engaging in sexual activity when sweating and then bathing, injures the kidney.' This passage is not about the specific practice of 'overcoming emotion with emotion,' but it clearly demonstrates how classical Chinese medicine views the relationship between emotions and the body: excessive worry injures the heart, excessive fury injures the liver. There is a correspondence between emotions and organs as described by classical theory. It is precisely because emotions are seen as holistic forces capable of 'injuring' specific organs that physicians, when considering how to resolve an excessive emotion, would think of using another emotion to counteract it, in order to restore what classical theory calls balance. It must be emphasized again that this classical 'injury to the liver' or 'injury to the heart' is a concept within traditional theoretical language and cannot be directly equated with a modern medical diagnosis of organic disease in the liver or heart.

As for why 'trust' and 'cooperation with a close person' are so important, this can be understood from another angle. Another sentence in the *Huangdi Neijing·Lingshu* discusses the origins of disease: 'The origin of all diseases arises from wind, rain, cold, and summer heat; from the yin and yang of joy and anger; from diet and dwelling; and from great fright and sudden fear.' Here, 'the yin and yang of joy and anger' and 'great fright and sudden fear' are listed together as factors in the genesis of disease, showing that in the classical Chinese medical view, a person's life circumstances and emotions are a common source of both health and illness. Since emotions are deeply embedded in a person's life situation, transforming them naturally requires mobilizing real people and real relationships within that life situation, not just a dialogue between the physician and the person in a consultation room. This is why ancient medical cases regard 'family cooperation' or 'the patient's complete trust in the physician' as a prerequisite for the treatment to begin.

Compared to Spinoza, the most distinctive feature of this framework is that it does not require the person to first use reason to 'see through' their emotion. Instead, it allows for, and even deliberately arranges, another emotion to override the original one. This might sound counterintuitive to a modern reader—we are often taught to 'be aware of' and 'accept' our emotions—but within the classical Chinese medical framework, emotion is inherently a flowing, holistic phenomenon. Using another powerful emotion to break through it is not suppression but a way for the whole system to regain balance. This is exactly what the paper means when it says there is 'more variability than commonality' between the two.

When reading about this kind of classical thinking, what readers need to distinguish most carefully is the distance between 'historical records' and 'modern scientific validation.' The paper itself clearly points out that the classical Chinese medical records of 'overcoming one emotion with another' come from ancient texts and case histories and are not proven effective by the standards of modern clinical trials. In other words, we cannot say this practice 'has been proven effective by modern science.' Similarly, this technique of designing a scenario with the cooperation of a close person or relying on the physician-patient trust is not suitable for readers to imitate in their daily lives on their own. The interventions in classical medical cases often occurred under the guidance of an experienced physician and within a specific cultural context; without these conditions, both the effects and risks are unpredictable.

Furthermore, the classical Chinese medical statements that 'fury injures the liver' or 'worry injures the heart' are correspondences between people, emotions, and organs within traditional theory. They are not equivalent to a modern medical diagnosis of liver or heart disease. If readers are troubled by physical discomfort, they should rely on modern medical examinations and diagnoses and should not directly apply these classical statements to their own health conditions. Finally, although the paper discusses the possible direction of integrating classical practices with contemporary psychotherapy at the end, this remains a theoretical exploration. It does not mean the classical Chinese medical approach has been proven better than modern psychotherapy or can serve as a substitute for it—this is a boundary that must be kept firmly in mind when reading related materials.

情緒會不會卡住一個人？如果會，古代中醫如何看待這件事？這篇文章引導讀者思考一個古老的命題：在中文的語境裡，當一個人沉溺於某種情緒過久，身心的平衡便可能失調。這並不是現代才有的觀察。

來自歐洲 PMC 的同儕審查文獻指出，斯賓諾莎並非第一位主張「必須以一種相反且強烈的情緒去轉化原有情緒」的思想者。這篇以「Emotion-Focused Therapy: A Perspective From Traditional Chinese Medicine」為題、於2026年04月01日出版的論文，將焦點放在中醫古典文本之中，並從歷代名醫的醫案紀錄中舉出「以情勝情」式的情緒治療實例。

那麼，古代中醫師實際上做了什麼？這篇論文摘要整理出兩個關鍵特徵：第一，設計1個新的情境，使當事人在真實世界中獲得一種「具身的另類經驗」（embodied alternate experience），藉此激發出1種足以壓過原本沉溺情緒的強烈感受；第二，這樣的情境必須透過與當事人親近的人共同安排，或者仰賴當事人對醫師的完全信任來執行。換言之，這種療法不靠抽象的推理，而靠一段真實的關係與1場真實的處境。

作者進一步將中醫的整體觀與斯賓諾莎《倫理學》中的哲學體系進行對照，指出兩者其實「差異多於共通」。斯賓諾莎承認情緒在人的運作中扮演角色，但其情緒調節的路徑本質上是理性主義式的（rationalistic），強調以理智去理解與駕馭情感。這與中醫傳統中「以情動情」的介入方式形成對照——後者並不訴諸純粹的認知重構，而是讓身體在一段人與人之間的互動裡，被另一股真實的情緒所觸動。

文獻同時回顧了當代心理學與心理治療的研究，點出認知在情緒調節與轉化中的角色既複雜又有趣，並以此為背景評估了中醫傳統中「以情勝情」式情緒治療的貢獻與侷限，繼而闡述其原理，並思考與現代心理治療對話與整合的可能。需要留意的是：本文所引用的歷史療法技藝，並非以現代臨床試驗的標準來驗證其療效；同時，本文所描述的中醫「情傷臟腑」觀念，也不應直接等同於現代生物醫學對器官疾病的診斷。

對一般讀者而言，這篇文章的價值在於提示一條被忽略的思路：情緒的轉化未必只能靠「想通」，有時也需要一段真實的處境、一個可信賴的同行者，讓另一種情緒在身體層次發生。這是一種歷史悠久的人文觀察，並非現代科學的定論。