Epilepsy, a common chronic paroxysmal disease in nervous system, is a clinical syndrome characterized by sudden transient cerebral dysfunction resulting from repeated abnormal electric discharge of neuron, manifested mainly as motorial sensory, mental and behavioral disorders and vegetative nerve functional disturbance. The disease occurs in people of all ages from the new-born to the aged, most likely in those around 5 years old and teenagers, and more common in males than in female, its incidence being 0.3%-0.7%.

This disease is usually associated with genetic and acquired factors. The former refers to congenital defect, and the latter includes craniocerebral injury, various kinds of cerebritis, meningitis, cerebroma, cerebrovascular disease, parasitosis, metabolic disturbance and intoxication.

In view of the clinical manifestations, it belongs to the categories of "dian xian" (epilepsy), "xian zheng" (epileptic syndrome) and "yang xian feng" (informal term of epilepsy) in TCM. Its causative factors are emotional disorder, congenital defect and drastic fright, and its pathogeneses are phlegm accumulation, adverse flow of qi and wind-phlegm obstruction. The diseased zang-organs are the heart and liver, with the spleen and kidney also involved. If the disease lasts long, healthy qi may be impaired by pathogenic factors, resulting in deficiency of the heart and kidney.