In a recent article titled What Does Acupuncture Help With? the concept of mental health was addressed, among a number of other ailments (mostly physical). With mental health awareness growing with each passing year, we wanted to expand upon the concept by looking at how this traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) discipline can assist with behavioral health interventions. Let’s summarize where acupuncture for mental health can make a difference in your life.
Three Mental Health Concerns TCM Acupuncture Can Help Provide Relief For
Acupuncture for Anxiety
Anxiety is classified as a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. Symptoms include sudden bouts of perspiration, restlessness, tenseness, and may manifest as a rapid heartbeat and pulse rate. People who live with anxiety have a compromised quality of life and have difficulty functioning in social, professional, and familial surroundings. They can even have a hard time being alone without anything to distract them from their thoughts and feelings. While pharmaceutical companies hock a number of prescriptions, we discourage you from making these a first resort. In addition to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) we encourage you to try acupuncture. Studies show that acupuncture is an effective form of treatment:
“Each paper showing statistically significant effects directly attributable to an acupuncture treatment lends weight to the use of acupuncture to significantly reduce the symptoms of anxiety disorders […] There is evidence that acupuncture is comparable with CBT, which is a common intervention in the treatment of this condition”
Acupuncture for Stress
While anxiety (above) is often looped in with stress, it’s important to understand the difference between the two. Anxiety is an actually an individual’s specific reaction to stress. Knowing this, you can better understand the importance of early intervention of stress. If stress begins to creep into your life from challenges in social/familial relationships, at work, or elsewhere, you should consider acupuncture to prevent the onset of anxiety and other reactions to stress. Research shows that acupuncture is effective in stress management:
“Estimations of effect sizes show that acupuncture treatment has a positive effect on stress reduction as well as other health outcomes as compared to no treatment. In addition, results indicate that verum acupuncture could, in fact, be more effective than sham acupuncture in reducing stress levels”
*Verum acupuncture referenced in the above study is in reference to TCM acupuncture (provided at our clinic).
Acupuncture for Depression
The signs of anxiety, stress, and depression can look alike. However,, the main difference is that depression is more intense and long-lasting. Depression is generally more consequential and affects pretty much everything in someone’s life, including how they think, feel, behave and function. Symptoms include (but are not exclusive to) feelings of discouragement, sadness, hopelessness, anger, and low energy along with a lack of motivation or interest in life in general. It can be so overwhelming that it can result in thoughts of suicide, and may indeed escalate to suicide. The critical nature of depression demands behavioral health therapy intervention. That being said, acupuncture may help supplement symptom treatment for mild and moderate forms of depression. While data is not conclusive, some research backs it’s application accordingly:
“While experts are not entirely sure how acupuncture works for depression, a 2019 paper suggests this technique acupuncture may work by regulating neurotransmitters. Many antidepressants work on neurotransmitters, which are brain chemicals that help carry signals across a synapse.”
“A 2020 overview of recent meta-analyses suggests acupuncture may slightly reduce the severity of depression. The evidence also showed some improvement compared with certain antidepressants and suggests the practice might increase the effectiveness of antidepressants.”
ACUPUNCTURE FOR MENTAL HEALTH IN BURNABY BC:
CALL: 604.558.2273
EMAIL: in**@ab****************.com