Treating Anxiety and Depression with Acupuncture-
By Susie Orenstein-Turner, L.Ac, MPA
Acupuncture has long been used in China for the treatment
of psychiatric disorders, and its therapeutic effect in the
treatment of mental distress is becoming more widely known
in the West.
Research has indicated that increased stimulation of the
sympathetic nervous system by chronic stress leads to the
release of hormones, such as cortisol, which can alter mood
enhancing chemicals and decrease seratonin levels. Such
changes in brain chemistry may leave one more vulnerable to
anxiety and depression.
Research has shown that acupuncture can influence
sympathetic nervous activity and induce relaxation by
lowering production of cortisol and increasing seratonin
levels. Such biochemical reactions result in a calmer mind,
enhanced ability to focus, fewer palpitations, and panic
attacks, and an overall sense of balance and harmony.
According to Chinese Medicine, disturbing emotions that are
not dealt with over a long period of time can become a cause
of illness. At the same time, imbalanced emotions can result
from an imbalanced flow of energy resulting from
physiological ailments.
Therefore, depression or anxiety can be the cause or the
symptom of a disorder. Acupuncture is an effective therapy
because it provides support to the underlying energetic
areas of the body that are directly affected by anxiety or
depression. Acupuncture can release tension in muscles,
and it aids with other physiological symptoms associated
with anxiety such as headaches, heart palpitations, insomnia
and nausea.
According to Stephanie Marohn, author of The Natural
Medical Guide to Depression, “depression results from
disturbances in energy flow which produces effects on the
person’s mind and spirit”.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the mind and heart are
closely connected energetically, because the heart meridian
controls the nervous system, which controls the mind. An
energetic imbalance in the heart meridian can throw off the
balance of neurotransmitters in the brain. Proper brain
chemistry can be restored by balancing the function of the
heart meridian.
This relationship explains why psychiatric medications that
attempt to correct the biochemistry of the brain do not
solve the problem of depression, since the antidepressants
do not address the root energetic problem that throws off
the neurotransmitters. The goal of strengthening the heart
and calming the mind, according to Chinese Medicine, is “to
get the heart back in charge, controlling the mind”,
Marohnconcludes.
A study was conducted at the Yale University School of
Medicine as a blind, random trial of 55 patients. The
subjects experienced a profound change in anxiety levels,
and reported being “significantly less anxious” than those in
the sham acupuncture groups at the thirty minute, twenty-
four hour and forty-eight hour intervals after the treatment
began.
In the September 1999 edition of Psychology Today a
controlled study documented that 50% of patients treated
for depression showed no sign of the mood disorder, after
receiving acupuncture treatments once a week for two
months. The study concluded that acupuncture provides
rates of relief from depression comparable to those seen in
trials of antidepressants.
In a fall 2001 Alzheimer’s Care Quarterly article, Bader and
Wellesley report on the administration of acupuncture
therapy as a treatment for anxiety and depression among
persons with dementia. Their data suggested that
acupuncture is a feasible alternative or complement to
conventional medical treatments for the mood disorders of
those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Acupuncture
treatments were well received by both patients and their
caregivers. The researchers found strong pre- and post-
treatment differences in measures of depression and anxiety.
Having reviewed the impact of acupuncture on anxiety and
depression, I hope that if you know someone who may be
suffering from one or both of these potentially debilitating
conditions, you will recommend that acupuncture therapy
can help them. They have nothing to lose from experiencing
this drug- free alternative, rather, they have a lot to gain.
Depression & Anxiety
