Q. I have indigestion with anxiety/depression — can both be treated together?
Yes — Korean medicine treats digestion and mental health together as 'liver-spleen disharmony' (肝脾不和). We use prescriptions that improve digestion and stabilize mind simultaneously.
📝 Detailed Answer
We look at them together. Rather, it is a combination hard to look at separately.
The gut and the brain are closely connected by nerves and hormones. When you are tense, gastric motility slows; when digestion fails, you become anxious again — a circle arises. That the rate of accompanying anxiety and depression is high in patients with functional dyspepsia is well known.
In Korean medicine treatment we do not separate the two. In many cases we address the gastrointestinal symptoms, sleep and the state of tension together with a single prescription.
However, if the low mood has continued for two weeks or more, or daily functioning has declined, it is safer to receive psychiatric care alongside.
Expert Verified
Hyo-seop Kim
Chief Director