UC Irvine

This article explores a debate that emerged within the Chinese medical community in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The debate, which centered on the respective roles played by the heart and brain in functions related to thinking, movement, and the onset of psychiatric disorders, concluded that neuropsychiatry's overriding emphasis on the brain was shortsighted. Instead, participants resolved that the brain and heart, alongside other organs and systems, were inextricably entwined, with many thought processes being governed by the heart. Although the discussion only lasted a few years, the insights it generated offer valuable theoretical contributions to contemporary conceptualizations of the mind/body duality. By highlighting alternative ways of understanding "mental" malfunction - theories that go beyond a narrow focus on the brain itself - Chinese medicine might provide a model for rethinking the relationships among the brain, the body, and different organs, systems, and physiological processes. The article ends by drawing a parallel between the heart vs. brain debate and recent research that seeks to show how gut health and heart health affect psychological and emotional wellbeing.