Q We had back-to-school syndrome last year and it's back again this year. If it recurs, can treatment prevent it next time?
A Cases that recur every year often have a constitution with weak digestion or an anxious temperament at their base. Preventive treatment before the term that strengthens digestion and builds emotional resilience often reduces or prevents symptoms in the next term.
Detailed Answer
If back-to-school syndrome recurs every year, the child's constitutional traits (weak digestion, anxious temperament) often underlie it. A pattern has formed in which the body reacts the same way each time an environmental change comes. To break this pattern, a preventive approach that strengthens digestion and builds emotional resilience during the break is more effective than treating after symptoms appear.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
At Dongjedang, we recommend preventive treatment that tonifies the spleen and stomach with formulas in the Sogeonjung-tang family and regulates liver energy with formulas in the Gamisoyo-san family, starting during the break or 2-3 weeks before school begins. A child whose digestion has been sufficiently strengthened shows a markedly reduced degree of physical-symptom expression even when facing the same environmental change. With consistent management over 2-3 years, an effect of strengthening the constitution itself can also be expected.
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