Considerations of disease causes

Although TCM and its concept of disease do not strongly differentiate between cause and effect,[135] pattern discrimination can include considerations regarding the disease cause; this is called 病因辩证 (pinyin: bìngyīn biàn zhèng, "disease-cause pattern discrimination").[88]

There are three fundamental categories of disease causes (三因, pinyin: sān yīn) recognized:[72]

external causes: these include the Six Excesses and "Pestilential Qi".[72]
internal causes: the "Seven Affects" (七情, pinyin: qì qíng,[72] sometimes also translated as "Seven Emotions"[136]) - joy, anger, brooding, sorrow, fear, fright and grief.[136] These are believed to be able to cause damage to the functions of the zàng-fú, especially of the Liver.[137]
non-external-non-internal causes: dietary irregularities (especially: too much raw, cold, spicy, fatty or sweet food; voracious eating; too much alcohol),[138] fatigue, sexual intemperance, trauma, and parasites (虫, pinyin: chóng).[72]