Intellectual disabilities refer to the decline, even loss of the patient's intelligence (including the abilities to observe, memorize, concentrate attention, comprehend, judge, orientate, calculate and imagine), which makes the patient incompetent to work, and difficult to manage household duties and daily life. At the same time, the patient is accompanied by personality changes with the manifestations of depression, mechanical and queer life, or impetuosity, confrontation with others due to trifle affairs, or susceptibility to suspicion and anxiety, increase of speech which is long-winded and repeated. The typical symptom is weak-mindedness and dementia.
Intellectual disabilities are mostly due to cerebral trauma, sudden cerebral stroke, anoxic cerebral injury, toxic cerebropathy and senile degenerative cerebral diseases except a small number of congenital factors.
1. Regulating emotions and art cultivation
Family members and physicians should be considerate of and care for patients, comfort and encourage them to induce their active will for rehabilitation. On this basis, perform intellectual rehabilitation for them. Doctors should try their best to discover the still existing intellectual factors. Then adopt the behavior therapy and repeatedly intensify this to delay or remedy the continuous decline of intelligence. The artistic forms like music are the very good methods to improve the patients' emotions. Certain people with intellectual disabilities often have exceptionally good artistic abilities. Therefore, doctors should take care to discover and cultivate these talents. More information, please go on reading Hypophrenia in TCM.
(1) Life cultivation with music
Music has better effects on promoting intelligence and should be often applied in daily life. For the patients mainly with depression, select the music for expressing emotions and arousing feeling; for the patients with susceptibility to impetuosity and irascibility, select the light and melodious music for tranquilizing the mind. As for old people, it is suitable to select the songs the patients were familiar with or liked when they were children or youths to slow down the decline of their memory and delay their ageing. This is helpful for the rehabilitation of patients with senile dementia. As to children, select simple, easy, happy and lively children's musical compositions suitable for children's psychological features. More information, please go on reading Causes of Hypophrenia in TCM.
(2) Watching or performing plays
In plays, there exist the music, dances, plots and roles which greatly move people and provoke people's thinking. Accordingly, watching or performing plays may regulate the patients'' emotions and delay the decline of cerebral functions. Middle-aged and old people should often watch plays, and the patients may also be organized to rehearse and perform plays if the conditions permit.
(3) Practicing calligraphy, painting, playing a musical instrument and chess
People should be absorbed in practicing calligraphy and painting, playing a musical instrument and chess to bring the thinking and creative abilities of their brains into full play in pursuit of the aesthetic artistic conception. Therefore, these activities may promote intellectual development and train the fine movements of hands as better means of intellectual health preservation. A part of children with intellectual disabilities have exceptionally good artistic talents. This may also be discovered by the daily training. More information, please go on reading Symptoms of Hypophrenia in TCM.
2. Meditation and enhancement of health
(1) Meditation
Meditation surely promotes intellectual activities. Its mechanism lies in the fact that the purpose of improving physiological functions is achieved by means of the psychological self suggestion. Its method is as follows: Get rid of all distracting thoughts and suggest to yourself that there exists a red sun, shining over your head. Your vertex feels hot gradually. The warm current enters your brain, every part of your brain. Then the warm current penetrates into your limbs, even throughout the whole body. More information, please go on reading TCM Diagnosis for Hypophrenia.
The detection of the cerebral blood flow chart shows that for those with intellectual disabilities, the supply of blood volume of cerebral cortex increases greatly if they often practice meditation. This indicates that the cerebral blood circulation has been improved.
(2) Health-enhancing ball
Health-enhancing ball is applicable to the intellectual disabilities due to maim and disease-induced handicap. As for training methods, the patients may use the simple movements like rotating one ball clockwise and anticlockwise on one palm at first. Then, gradually shift to complicated movements like rotating two balls on two palms, rotating two balls in an inside-outsidely leaping way, rotating many balls in a mutually circling way and rotating balls once after every three times of dribbling balls. More information, please go on reading Chinese Medicine Treatment for Hypophrenia.
The patients may shift to new methods continuously to achieve the state of high proficiency and frequent variations. This may effectively delay decline of the brain. Balance the left and right hands, and alternate the two hands when practicing the bails with two hands. Do not ignore to use the left hand in particular. This measure may ensure equal development of the functions of the two cerebral hemispheres.
3. Life cultivation with diets
Brain-tonifying Tea:
The ingredients include Hegeng (Petiolus Nelumbinis), Heshouwu (Radix Polygoni Multiflori), Dandouchi (Semen Sojae Praeparaturn), Huajiao (Pericarpium Zanthoxyli), Gouqizi (Fructus Lycii), Dazao (Fructus Ziziphi Jujubae) and crystal sugar. Drink it as beverage at usual times. The tea has unique taste and can be used regularly as a daily drink. More information, please go on reading Pericarpium Zanthoxyli (Huajiao).
Brain-tonifying Gruel:
Grind Hetaoren (Semen Juglandis), Lianzi (Semen Nelumbinis), Gouqizi (Fructus Lycii, Xingren (Semen Armeniacae Amarum), Taoren (Semen Persicae), Baiziren (Semen Biotae), Zaoren (Semen Ziziphi Jujubae) and Shichangpu (Rhizoma Acori Graminei) into pieces. Cook gruel with the ingredients and oatmeal. Eat the gruel as the main food in the morning and in the evening.
Heart-marrow Soup:
Cook soup with pig heart and spondylous bone. A proper amount of Shengdihuang (Radix Rehmanniae), or a small amount of Xiyangshen (Radix Panacis Quinquefolii) may be added. Use the soup as an assistant food. More information, please go on reading Radix Rehmanniae (Shengdihuang)
According to TCM theory, "the kidney controls bones, generates marrow and communicates with the brain." and "The teeth are the outward manifestation of the bones." Therefore, strengthening the dental masticating movement and improving the oral masticating ability are the supplementary measure to promote cerebral functions. It is advisable to encourage the patients to eat more coarse and hard foods at usual times.
4. Health care with drugs
(1) Lingzhi Tablet (Lucid Ganoderma Tablet) or Lingzhi Syrup (Lucid Ganoderma Syrup): Take 4 tablets or 5 ml each time, three times a day.
(2) Shenrong Extract (Extract of Radix Ginseng and Cornu Cervi Pantotrichum): Take it three times a day, 3 to 5 drops each time.
(3) Grind equal amount of Sangshenzi (Fructus Mori), Heizhima (Semen Sesami), Hutaoren (paste of Semen Juglandis) and Wuzao (Fructus Ziziphi Jujubae) with the pit removed respectively. Take 3 g of the powder each time, three times a day.
(4) Yishen Ningxin Prescription (Kidney-benefiting and Mind-tranquilizing Prescription) The ingredients include Dangshen (Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae), Huangqi (Radix Astragali seu Hedysari) , Shengdihuang (Radix Rehmanniae), Shudihuang (Radix Rehmanniae Praeparata) , Shanyurou (Fructus Corni), Fuling (Poria), Huaishanyao (Rhizoma Dioscoreae), Yuanzhi (Radix Polygalae), Zaoren (Semen Ziziphi Jujubae), Longgu (Os Draconis), Guiban (Carapaxet Plastrum Testudinis), Zexie (Rhizoma Alismatis), Wuweizi (Fructus Schisandrae) and Shichangpu (Rhizoma Acori Graminei). Take the drug for 2 to 3 months. It is applicable to patients with deficiency of healthy qi intermingled with phlegm. More information, please go on reading Fructus Schisandrae (Wuweizi).
5. Nursing for life cultivation
At usual times, the nursing staff should communicate more with patients, and encourage them to speak more, listen more and move more. Ask the patients to tell stories, recite short articles, read books and newspapers and retell what they have read. These methods may gradually improve their abilities to distinguish, memorize and judge things. The rich perfume of flowers refreshes the brain. Accordingly, flowers like roses, jasmines and narcissuses can be placed in the living environment.