Source 出处 · Jingyue Quanshu · Doses are not given here: they are set by a licensed practitioner for the individual.
Safety. Chai Hu Shu Gan San is the formula most often reached for when a practitioner describes the traditional pattern called liver qi constraint — the sense, in classical language, that the free movement of qi has become stuck. Its usual source of record is Jingyue Quanshu, the late-Ming compendium by Zhang Jiebin, whose section on old formulas reorganised earlier prescriptions into eight tactical groups. Some writers trace this prescription back further, to an earlier Ming text, and the attribution is not settled. This library records the Jingyue Quanshu attribution and notes the disagreement rather than picking a winner.
The composition is a small lesson in how a formula is argued. Bupleurum and cyperus are the pair that disperse; ligusticum and citrus peel move qi and blood through the chest and flanks; bitter orange presses downward while white peony, sour and astringent, holds something back; honey-fried licorice rounds the middle. What looks like a list of seven herbs is really a set of opposed directions, and the classical claim is that constraint is relieved when movement becomes possible again rather than when everything is pushed one way.
What the formula is applied to in traditional terms — flank and chest distension, a sighing disposition, low mood, irregular periods, a wiry pulse — is a cluster that today would be sorted into several different boxes, and that sorting matters more than the formula. Persistent low mood with loss of interest, sleep and appetite change, or any thought of self-harm is not a qi problem to be dispersed; it is a reason to seek proper assessment. Chest or upper abdominal pain can be cardiac, biliary, or reflux, and the first two are time-critical. Right upper quadrant pain with fever is a surgical question. This library does not present the formula as a treatment for depression, hepatitis, or any named disease.
Safety, in the order in which it tends to matter. The formula contains honey-fried licorice, and glycyrrhizin can produce a picture resembling aldosterone excess — falling potassium, rising blood pressure, oedema — that depends on amount and duration and rises with diuretics, digoxin, corticosteroids and older age. Bupleurum has a documented safety history in Japan, where interstitial pneumonia and liver injury, including fatal cases, were reported with bupleurum-containing formulas and led to regulatory warnings; someone with existing liver disease should not add bupleurum without the knowledge of the clinician already managing it. Bitter orange (zhi qiao) contains synephrine, a sympathomimetic amine that regulators and sport authorities watch. Chuan xiong is Ligusticum chuanxiong, not the North American species sold under the same genus name. Citrus peel is an agricultural product with pesticide residue and, where drying and storage have been poor, mould and aflatoxin concerns. Cyperus is routinely vinegar-processed in traditional practice. Small studies exist on this formula for functional dyspepsia and as an adjunct in mood disorders; they are small and heterogeneous and do not establish benefit.
柴胡疏肝散通常著录于《景岳全书》—— 明代张介宾所编，其中「古方八阵」把前代方剂按攻补散寒等八类重排。也有文献把此方上溯至更早的明代医籍，归属至今没有定论。本库列出《景岳全书》这个出处，并把这个分歧如实写出来，而不替读者裁断谁对。
读它的组成比读它的名声有用。柴胡与香附是负责疏泄的一对，川芎与陈皮行胸胁的气与血，枳壳往下压而白芍酸收往回拉，炙甘草守住中焦。七味药不是七个同方向的推力，而是一组彼此相反的方向；古典的论证是：郁结之所以解，是因为气机重新能走，而不是因为被强行推向一处。
它在传统语境里对应的是胁肋胀满、善太息、情绪不舒、月经不调、脉弦这一类。这套说法今天会被分进几个完全不同的格子，而分格子比用方更紧要：持续两周以上的情绪低落伴兴趣丧失、睡眠与食欲改变，或任何自伤念头，不是需要「疏」的气滞，而是需要专业评估的状态。胸痛与上腹痛可能是心脏、胆道或反流，前两者按分钟计；右上腹痛伴发热是外科问题。本库不声称此方能治疗抑郁症、肝炎或任何具体疾病。
安全提示按要紧程度排。方中含炙甘草，甘草酸可引起类似醛固酮过多的一组表现 —— 血钾下降、血压升高、水肿 —— 与所用多少和服用时长相关，与利尿剂、地高辛、糖皮质激素同用以及高龄都会抬高风险。柴胡有一条在日本留下的安全史：含柴胡的方剂曾报告间质性肺炎与肝损伤，含致死病例，并引出监管警告；已有肝病者不应在主管医生不知情时自行加服含柴胡的方。枳壳含对辛弗林，属拟交感胺类，是监管机构与运动禁药名单关注的对象。川芎是 Ligusticum chuanxiong，与北美同属同名植物不可互代。陈皮是农产品，有农药残留与（干燥储存不良时）霉变黄曲霉毒素的顾虑。香附传统多用醋制。此方在功能性消化不良与情绪障碍辅助方面有小规模研究，样本小、异质性大，不确立获益。