The Hun, Executive Brain Functions, Health Goals, and Treatment Plans

In TCM, the Hun, liver, and wood element are related to the qualities of vision, growth, planning, judgment, and decision-making. Additionally, the liver is said to be the general in charge of maintaining the smooth flow of qi and regulating the emotions. These attributes of the liver also relate to modern ideas about the executive functions of the brain that include organization, planning, and accomplishing our goals. Additionally, self-awareness, impulse control, and emotional regulation are also aspects of the brain’s executive functions.

As the General, the Hun is involved with decisive strategies and planning. These qualities are essential to creating treatment plans with our clients and helping them to achieve their health goals. This is particularly important for treatment plans where lifestyle changes are needed. Since many common and chronic conditions are related to lifestyle, habits, and behavior, executive functions and the attributes of the hun are vital to actualizing positive health changes.

This has broad clinical applications for patients with conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, fatigue, addictions, digestive problems, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, ADHD, trauma, chronic pain, and more.

Comparing the attributes of the Hun-Liver-General to the Executive Functions (EF) of the brain, we can discover ways to develop the strengths of the wood element using modern knowledge about executive brain functions.  The chart below compares some of the liver-wood attributes to EF.

Hun and Treatment Plans

To achieve treatment plans, it is essential to draw on the attributes of the Hun and EF, particularly as they relate to planning and treatment strategies. Additionally, no treatment plan is complete without an end goal in mind, and as we develop treatment plans with our clients, it is essential to help them clearly define their goals in working with us.

Common goals include decreasing and managing pain, losing a certain amount of weight, overcoming an addiction, or regaining movement and function. Frequently, there are physical, emotional, and mental components involved in the patients’ conditions, and goal setting often requires awareness of each of these.

Reaching Health Goals Requires Executive Brain Functioning and

Balance in the Hun-Liver-Wood Energies

Setting goals is an important aspect of helping our clients achieve their desired outcomes and requires the Hun and executive functions of strategy and planning. In working with our clients’ needs and developing a solid treatment plan, it is essential to help them clearly define their goals. Using S.M.A.R.T. goals provides a basis for strategic planning.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

SMART is an acronym for:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-bound

Let’s look at each of these components of SMART goals and how they apply to treatment plans, the Hun, and executive brain functioning.

Specific

When developing treatment plans, it is crucial to inquire about the patients’ SPECIFIC goals. Do they only want out of pain, or do they want out of pain so that they can regain something in life? Perhaps they want pain relief so that they can resume some activity, hobby, or athletic endeavor. If they want more energy, what specifically do they hope to achieve? Do they want to have more energy for their family, work, to improve their mood, or to perform better?

When you get specific with your clients about what outcomes they want and how you can help them achieve that, they are more likely to become long-term referring clients.

Helping patients to get specific about their reasons for seeing you also helps us better understand their priorities and motivations. Health coaches seek to identify something called intrinsic motivators in their clients, and these are our internal motivations for making a change.

When clients come in to see us, they want to make a change, and unless we understand their internal motivators, we won’t be able to help them fully. Once you know what drives them to achieve their health goals, you will be better able to help them follow through with a treatment plan.

A major key to getting clients committed to care is understanding their intrinsic motivations and including them in the treatment plan.

Include patients in the development of their treatment plan by understanding their top priorities, goals, and motivations for making change. Be sure to have them be SPECIFIC about what progress they want to make and understand their intrinsic motivators.

Measurable

Being able to measure progress is essential to guiding patients through a treatment plan to accomplish their goals. Measurable results may be subjective or objective, and unless results are measured, people will not be able to gauge their progress.

Measuring results can also help people stay motivated when they experience the benefits of your treatments. In the clinic, there are a variety of ways to measure progress based on the client’s needs and goals. Everything from VAS pain levels, range of motion, weight, blood tests, energy levels, scans, and other diagnostic tests may be used to measure results.

Measuring progress is an essential part of guiding and developing treatment plans as we continue to work with our clients.

Achievable - Vision that is Realistic

One aspect of the Hun is having the vision to accomplish what we want. To accomplish goals first requires having the vision of what we want, making the necessary plans, and then taking strategic actions to realize our pursuits. When the vision of our goals is clear, specific, and important enough, then we can achieve them with the right efforts.

In developing treatment plans, it is essential to incorporate the patient’s priorities and motivations for change in a way that is realistic and achievable. Often, patients set themselves up for failure when they have lofty and unrealistic expectations for our treatments. This is in part due to 'fast food' and 'quick fix' culture that wants immediate results and gratification for little effort. How many patients have asked you in an assuming way if acupuncture could magically melt the pounds away?

When developing treatment plans, it is essential for both the patient and therapist to determine if the goal is actually achievable and realistic.

Relevant

When working with our patients, we need to consider what is relevant to working with them to achieve their aims. Excessively explaining TCM theory is not relevant to most patients, and our time is better spent determining what is behind their desire to be more healthy. Our treatment plans need to be relevant to their intrinsic motivations and top health concerns.

Besides getting relief from their primary concern, what other relevant factors in their lives contribute to them seeking our care? Do they want relief from their pain only for the sake of having less physical pain, or do they want relief from their pain so that they can be more emotionally available for the family? For many people, work obligations, family commitments, social factors, and enjoying life are more relevant than the primary symptom itself.

If we only focus on their physical symptoms and energetic patterns, we may miss what is truly relevant and motivating them to seek our care. However, by developing goals and treatment plans that include and recognize their most relevant needs, we can go much further in connecting with our clients and ensuring that they get the care they need and deserve.

Time-Bound

In both treatment plans and goal setting, it is essential to create a time-bound plan to strategize our efforts. With most of my clients, I begin this by explaining how it is best to start with four to six sessions over the course of two weeks. Doing this creates a time-bound two-week plan for them to measure specific improvements they would like to make. Most people are willing to commit to two weeks of care if it means getting relief for their health problems.

After the initial two weeks, and for treating chronic conditions requiring long-term care, it is often best to communicate the need for a three-month treatment plan. This gives the patient adequate time to get results, navigate necessary lifestyle changes, and determine how our services can be of greatest benefit.

Summary

SMART goals are one way to invoke the executive functions of the Hun through strategic treatment planning. Integrating the positive attributes of the Hun into long-term care and communicating the need for executive function as part of a treatment plan can be invaluable in helping our clients accomplish their goals.

Additionally, other aspects of executive functioning including self-awareness, emotional regulation, and impulse control, are useful for treating many conditions. As acupuncturists, many of us already possess skills that can help with these components as well. Acupuncture may increase self-awareness and body awareness, and much of TCM theory is related to Taoist practices and Qi Kung. Acupuncture may also help patients emotionally regulate through its effects on the autonomic and limbic systems. Future articles will discuss these topics in greater detail, so stay tuned to learn how TCM theory is being validated and elaborated on by modern findings and research.

In Spirit,

Jim