Acupuncture for Mental Health
Everyone encounters emotional distress or major upheavals in our lives that can trigger a wide range of unexpected feelings, major disruptions to our daily functioning (sleep, exercise and diet), or clinical disorders (depression, anxiety, and PTSD). In Chinese medicine, mental health problems arise as imbalances between the yin and yang energies of the body, including consideration of lifestyle, diet, and constitution. Our body is made up of a living energy called Qi, and this energy circulates in the body, including the major organs, through channels or meridians. However, emotional and physical disruptions produce imbalance of qi in the meridians that acupuncture can address. In addition to psychotherapy and other modalities, acupuncture is an adequate modality for treating mental health issues because treatments plans are customized and designed to address root causes of patterns by helping to restore balance at all levels, body and mind.
This is how acupuncture helps:
- Acupuncture raises the level of endorphins in the brain. Endorphins are neurotransmitters naturally produced in the brain to fight pain. Also, they positively affect the mood.
- Additionally, acupuncture can lower blood pressure, induce relaxation, increase circulation, decrease anxiety and treat sleeplessness to help patients better regulate their emotions and responses to stress.
- In certain cases, acupuncture regulates serotonin, a chemical in the brain that affects our emotional state.
In other words, no one needs to go through recovery alone. I am here to help you regain balance in your body and mind.
Botanicals & Mental Health
Chinese herbology can relieve emotional distress by treating the root cause of the mental state. In tandem with acupuncture, herbal therapy and supplements help restore balance in the body and mind. Consequently, I prescribe Chinese herbal medicine or other supplements in two ways:
- Patent formulas – used to treat common for anxiety, PMS, headaches, depression, low energy, palpitations.
- Custom formulas – no two patients and pain manifestation and type are alike; this is why our pharmacy can prepare custom formulas tailored to each case.
Finally, upon discussing herbal medicine, please inform us of all medications you are currently taking as some herbs may have adverse reactions to certain pharmaceuticals.
What About Diet & Mental Health?
A very large body of evidence now exists suggesting “diet is as important to mental health as it is to physical health,” says Dr Jacka, president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research. Above all, a healthy diet is protective and an unhealthy diet is a risk factor for depression and anxiety. Therefore, schedule a consultation at your convenience to discuss how Acupuncture and TCM can support your mental health.
