Emotions and Mental Health

Chinese Medicine has a holistic and comprehensive framework for the care and treatment of mental health disorders which has gone back many hundreds of years. Many ‘New and groundbreaking’ understandings of emotional and mental health (for example the gut brain connection) are validating what eastern medicine recognised many hundreds of years ago: that you are a complete being, inseparable from your experience, body and the world you live in.

In our framework, stress, anxiousness and low mood ultimately reflects the comfort and security of the Heart. As the ultimate ruler of all your organs, a disturbance in the heart can manifest as many of the better known anxiety symptoms: heart palpitations, panic attacks, sleep disturbance, and memory and concentration problems. Of course there are many aspects related to this, and the symptoms will shift according to each individuals personal pattern, but overall this is one of the key elements involved.

From a western biomedical perspective, many of these symptoms above, and the exacerbation of symptoms with external stress, can be related to disruption of the nervous system, and its accompanying brain nodal relationship and hormone disruption. They can also be related to constant stress and stimuli.

The whirlwind of disruption can and will turn into a tornado. This is a unique property of nervous system disorders and can be both surprising, and confusing. They have an effect on the natural balance of many body systems, not just one, which is why they are so difficult to treat – with Western Medicine. As numerous studies on the mechanism of action of Acupuncture have demonstrated, we sedate and regulate, and maintain homeostasis of the nervous system. Additionally, due to the holistic nature of Chinese Medicine, treatment and improvement of many apparently unrelated symptoms is not only possible, but completely logical. We treat both symptoms and the cause, because we look at the individual and their unique pattern of disharmony. This is what we do best!

I think of these symptoms as a stone dropped in a pond. If the quiet pond is your mind, the ripples moving when you have symptoms are the disruptions you feel. Both physical and mental aspects of this can affect your everyday life deeply. This can of course escalate to reflect bigger and more aggressive disturbances: big stone, big ripples in the water!

Whether it a be physical restlessness, low mood, an unsettled spirit, or a feeling of panic becoming a response to anything and everything, there is a good chance that regular Acupuncture treatment may be able to reduce your symptoms.