Zhenjiu Dacheng, a classic book about acupuncture, describes the use of the "Zhu You Ke," a kind of spell. Spells are also used as therapy in the Orient, such as when traditional Chinese doctors write out characters in a trance-like state, burn them and have the patient drink water containing the ashes--all the while chanting. "This has the effect of hypnotizing or calming down patients.
中國醫學傳統的《針灸大成》中有所謂的「祝由科」，就是施予符咒；臨床上也使用到畫符念咒的方法，醫師口中念念有詞，再讓病人飲下符水，「有催眠、鎮靜病人情緒的作用。