Editing Traditional Chinese medicine (section)

====Considerations of disease causes====
Although TCM and its concept of disease do not strongly differentiate between cause and effect,<ref name="Ross 1984">Ross, Jeremy (1984) [https://books.google.com/books?id=t23zKB1FSVYC&q=Chinese+medicine+is+completely+different%3B+it+emphasizes+function.+Little&pg=PA6 "Zang Fu, the organ systems of traditional Chinese medicine"]{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Elsevier. First edition 1984. {{ISBN|978-0-443-03482-4}}</ref> pattern discrimination can include considerations regarding the disease cause; this is called {{lang|zh|病因辩证}} ({{zh|labels=no|p=bìngyīn biàn zhèng}}, "disease-cause pattern discrimination").<ref name="Flaws 1990" />

There are three fundamental categories of disease causes ({{zh|c=三因|labels=no|p=sān yīn}}) recognized:<ref name="Wiseman 1996" />
# external causes: these include the Six Excesses and "Pestilential Qi".<ref name="Wiseman 1996" />
# internal causes: the "Seven Affects" ({{zh|c=七情|labels=no|p=qī qíng}},<ref name="Wiseman 1996" /> sometimes also translated as "Seven Emotions"<ref name="Ross 1984" />) – joy, anger, brooding, sorrow, fear, fright and grief.<ref name="Ross 1984" /> These are believed to be able to cause damage to the functions of the zàng-fú, especially of the Liver.<ref name="Wiseman 1996" />
# non-external-non-internal causes: dietary irregularities (especially: too much raw, cold, spicy, fatty or sweet food; voracious eating; too much alcohol),<ref name="Wiseman 1996" /> fatigue, sexual intemperance, trauma, and parasites ({{zh|c=虫|labels=no|p=chóng}}).<ref name="Wiseman 1996" />