How Acupuncture Can Help With Anxiety And Depression

Posted on: 29 July 2015

Acupuncture is a time-honored traditional Chinese treatment that restores the body's energy flow so as to treat disorders such as pain, anxiety, infertility and addiction. The treatment is based on the belief that the elements affect the flow of energy through the human body, manifesting in sickness or emotional distress. By inserting fine, sterile needles into various specific sites on the body, acupuncturists can restore the balance of energy and clear energy blockages in the body, leading to relief.

Acupuncture and anxiety

Anxiety remains one of the most common mental conditions in the world. The condition is usually triggered by stressful situations, generating responses such as fear, aggression and insomnia, or physical reactions such as an accelerated heartbeat, fatigue and trouble breathing.

People with a genetic predisposition to stress or those undergoing stressful situations are more susceptible to anxiety, which causes their mind to overload and fail to cope with the situation confronting them.

Acupuncture is used to treat anxiety by helping to balance the energy flowing though the body. Anxiety is thought to be a result of imbalance of the heart and kidneys. Too much heat in the heart, which is the fire organ, will cause an energy imbalance in the kidney - the water organ. This causes excess heat energy to rise to the mind, leading to anxiety.

Acupuncturists recognize that balance of energy in the heart and kidney can be achieved by stimulating certain meridians (acupuncture points) along the kidneys and spleen so as to nourish the cooling energy of these organs and balance out the excess energy from the heart. Practitioners may also use other methods of enhancing energy flow through the body other than needles, such as massage and laser therapy.

Acupuncture and depression

Depression often causes symptoms such as a sense of helplessness, exhaustion and irritability. This mental disorder can also drain you of energy, and cause intense worry, which in extreme cases can trigger suicidal thoughts, insomnia or agitation.

Acupuncturists believe that depression to irregular energy flow from the limbs to the liver and heart. Acupuncturists use needles to unblock energy sources in the hands and feet by inserting needles on the fleshy web between your thumb and index finger and on the toe big toe and second toe. This allows energy flow to the liver and heart to be restored.

Acupuncture is used to treat a wide array of acute and chronic ailments, and can be a viable alternative for those suffering from depression and anxiety. The treatment can sometimes be supplemented with medication depending on your individual diagnosis and symptoms.

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