I am happy to share good news about anxiety and depression it is very serious and uncomfortable condition to have for many reasons and I want to share this story with you I have seen some excellent clinical success in treating depression and anxiety with acupuncture massage therapy and herbal medicine . Rather, an acupuncturist is trained to see the depression as a symptom of an underlying pattern of imbalance. The points are chosen to resolve the underlying imbalance, and when that is resolved the depression and anxiety goes away as a natural consequence.
Mary (not her real name) is a 38 year old woman who is generally in good health but who is struggling with depression. Her low moods can last 2 weeks at a stretch without relief, especially around her menstrual cycle. Her depression is not situation specific, and meets the standard medical definition of clinical depression. Her doctor suggested she start taking a pharmaceutical antidepressive and she came to see me at The Natural Health Centre before she started the medication to see if acupuncture could work as a natural alternative.
I spent about 10 minutes asking Mary some pertinent questions to help me figure out which pattern of imbalance was most likely at work in her
From this presentation I decided that Mary had what we call liver qi stagnation. This is a VERY common problem whose chief symptoms include:
– Chest or breast distention
– Palpitations
– Irritability
– Depression
– Painful Periods
– Bloating
Pretty clear cut. We did a course of 8 acupuncture sessions (1x per week for 8 weeks) and she took an herbal supplement. By her third cycle after starting treatment her period was not painful at all, and she did not experience the bloating or irritability. She still did feel depression for about a five day window during her period. We did another course of 4 sessions and the problem resolved.
The point I am making in all of this is that there aren’t any acupuncture points that stop depression. Rather, acupuncture works best when it is focused on rectifying a pattern of imbalance. Then the points are chosen for their ability to rectify that pattern of imbalance. When the imbalance is resolved, the symptom goes away.
Interestingly I might have seen 5 depression cases that day and used totally different acupuncture points for each of them.
If you have any questions please contact me.
