Ghost Points: Where Chinese Medicine meets Psychology
- Jun 30
- 1 min read
Before we called it trauma, Traditional Chinese Medicine called it ‘ghosts’.
Over 1,000 years ago, the Tang Dynasty physician, Sun Si Miao, described a set of 13 acupuncture points known as the Ghost Points (Gui Points), for people experiencing profound disturbances of the mind, emotions, and spirit.
The 'Ghost Points’ then are used to treat psychological or emotional disorders.
Some of these points include:
📍 DU26 (Ghost Palace) – traditionally used to revive consciousness and clear mental confusion
📍 PC7 (Ghost Heart) – associated with calming the Shen (spirit) and settling emotional agitation
📍 ST25 (Ghost City) – calms fright (anxiety) and regulates severe emotional trauma
📍 LI11 (Ghost Minister) – treats intense emotional or psychological imbalance
Today, Western psychology would likely describe these presentations as trauma, dissociation, psychosis, severe anxiety, or depression.
Different language. Same human suffering.
Where Western psychology might ask: "What's happening in the mind?”, Chinese medicine would ask: "What has happened to the Shen?"
Ancient physicians didn't have brain scans - they did however spend centuries observing patterns of behaviour, emotion, and healing. Modern science has incredible tools, yet we're still uncovering how deeply the body, nervous system, and emotional experiences are connected.
Maybe the oversight is assuming our ancestors were naïve because they used words like "ghost." Perhaps "ghosts" were their metaphor for the parts of ourselves that become lost after overwhelming experiences?
What if we stopped asking, "Which system is right?" and started asking, "What can each system teach us?"
