中國自古有「心病難治」之說；明人亦有「情志過極，非藥可愈」的觀點。由於「情志過極」引發的病症難以用尋常藥物治癒，一些醫者於是想出「以情勝情」之法，亦即利用不同情志之間的反差，以特定的語言技巧、情節佈局甚至即席演出，來轉移患者的特定情志狀態，以治癒其病症。「以情勝情」又稱為「五行相勝之理」或「五志相勝之理」，雖是以《黃帝內經》「五行相克」的構想為其靈感來源，但在實際應用時可靈活變化，並不侷限於既有的醫理架構。「以情勝情」在金元明清的諸多病例中看似收效良好，卻從未成為「情志過極」病症的主流療法，僅能算是藥療法之外的另類療法。礙於病症解釋、醫者才能、醫術訓練、用藥習慣、患者本身狀況和家屬是否合作等因素，使得難度較高的「以情勝情」之法，無從成為醫治所有「情志過極」病症的主流。這說明了醫學理論、醫療實務與社會情境之間的交互影響；新的醫學話語與醫療技術能否推展，仍得視其時空條件與歷史因素而定。

Chinese have recognized the role that emotions play in health and sickness since antiquity. In late imperial China, assessment of emotional states were significant in both medical theories and clinical encounters. In addition to aetiology, diagnostics and drug therapy, pre-modern Chinese physicians also developed unique therapies for treating illnesses caused by extreme emotional imbalance. These treatments by means of verbal techniques and emotional manipulation were recorded in both medical texts and literary jottings. By analyzing these source materials, this article sheds light on the emotional disorders treated by emotional therapies and talking cures in late imperial China (Yuan-Ming-Qing dynasties). First, I trace medical views of emotions and sickness since antiquity, showing how they were transmitted to later ages. Second, my focus shifts to late imperial medical cases in which therapeutic techniques of emotional manipulation and talking cures were applied. In an overall review, finally, I estimate to what extent emotional therapies were effective. I argue that successful emotional therapy depended on close interaction between the doctors, the patients, and their families. By examining the specific circumstances in which Chinese doctors practiced their healings arts and what responses they received from their clients, it is possible to explain why emotional therapy, despite its success in quite a few clinical encounters, nonetheless remained less prevalent than drug therapies in the pre-modern medical realm.