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Psycho-Emotional Disorders

What is Mental Health

Mental Health is a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. 1

Mental Illness

A mental illness or disorder is a diagnosable illness that significantly interferes with a person’s feelings, thinking, behaviour and the way they interact with other people.

Some common disorders include:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Post Natal Depression
• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar and other mood disorders
• Personality disorders
• Eating Disorders

Acupuncture for Mental Illness

With our busy lives we all come across stressor that can cause feelings of depression, anxiety, disruptions to your sleeping, eating, working and social lives.  From a TCM perspective the emotions brought about by these stressors disrupt the flow of qi and blood through the 12 meridians, however with the use of Acupuncture we can help to re-balance the body and alleviate these feelings.

There are several theories that try to explain how acupuncture works from a WSM view.  As per Sala Horowitz (Ph.D) papers on Mental Health article 2, it is believed that acupuncture is able to affect the limbic system, which is involved in our emotions, motivations and feelings of pleasure, by increasing serotonin levels.  Sara also mentions that acupuncture may also be able to increase the secretion of other central nervous system hormones such as adrenocorticotrophic hormone, beta-endorphins and noradrenalin thus helping to relieve pain and reduce stress with regular treatments.

In TCM  our Mental and Physical health is linked with the correct movement of qi and blood through the 12 meridians in our body.  Disruptions caused by emotional upset, poor sleep, lack of exercise, overwork/exhaustion and poor diet will influence the internal organ system.  The organ systems contain mental aspects (shen, hun, po, yi & zhi) that are responsible for our mental and emotional health and when disrupted by the incorrect flow of qi and blood will cause the appearance of clinical patterns.

Research

• Horowitz, S (2009) reviewed a number of studies regarding the use of Acupuncture for Mental Health Disorders such as depression, addictions, anxiety disorders, IBS (as it has a stress related component), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and psychotic disorders.  She concluded that acupuncture not only has promise in the treatment of Mental Health Disorders but also a high safety profile.

• Luo et al (1998) undertook two consecutive clinic studies to help confirm the effectiveness of electro-acupuncture (EA) on depression.  Results from both of the conducted studies showed that electro-acupunctures therapeutic efficacy was equal to that of the anti-depressant amitriptyline for depressive disorders.  It was also concluded that EA has a better therapeutic effect for anxiety and cognitive process disturbance of depressed patients than the anti-depressant thus showing that EA is indeed effective in treating depressive disorders.   

1. World Health Organisation 2012, Mental Health: strengthening our response, viewed 5th February 2012, www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs220/en/
2. Horowitz S, Acupuncture For Treating Mental Health Disorders, Alternative and Complimentary Therapies, June 2009
3. Rossi, E 2007, Shen Psycho-Emotional Aspects of Chinese Medicine, Elsevier, China
4. MacPherson, H; Thorpe, L; Thomas, K and Geddes, D 2004, Acupuncture for Depression: First Steps Toward a Clinical Evaluation, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Volume 10, Number 6, Pg 1083-1091
5. Luo, H; Meng, F; Jia, Y and Zhao X 1998, Clinical research on the therapeutic effect of electro-acupuncture treatment in patients with depression, Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 52, Pg S338 – S340
6. Errington-Evans, N 2009, Acupuncture in Chronic non-responding anxiety/depression patients: a case series, Acupuncture In Medicine, Vol 27, Pg 133-134