Before we get into how acupuncture can help with anxiety let’s first take a step back and start with the body-mind, mind-body relationship. In order to understand something we usually break things down and try to see something at the most basic level. For example when we are studying anatomy and first learning about the muscles we look at individual muscles, where they attach to the bones and the actions they have when they contract or lengthen. The rectus femoris muscle, one of the four muscles from the quadricep muscle group, flexes the hip joint and extends the knee. This is useful to know and if one were to strengthen this muscle they might do exercises that flex the hip joint and extend the knee. Yet, in life, things don’t exist in a vacuum. Yes, you might be able to focus on certain muscle groups or work on certain types of movement but it is nearly impossible to completely isolate the use of just one muscle. For example, as you work the rectus femoris your abdominal muscles will also work to stabilize your pelvis. In other words, things are connected.
Similarly, when we experience the world we do so not only with our body but mentally and emotionally as well. It is not possible to separate the body and mind apart from each other when experiencing the various things in our lives. We are a system, a whole, an interconnected being that tries to make sense of both external stimuli to our bodies and minds as well as internal stimuli from our thoughts and how we feel physically. For example, when we get into a car accident we experience the physical effects, possibly whiplash or maybe just a simple cut and a bruise. Yet, we experience this with our minds and our emotions also. We can heal from the physical injury but we may not have been able to reconcile and process the mental-emotional trauma. So now whenever you get into a car or think about driving your heart races a little bit faster. The mental-emotional injury has not yet healed. Now your mind is having an affect on the body. You are no longer physically in danger but the image and the memory of the accident is having an affect on your nervous system.
So how does acupuncture help one’s anxiety. The answer lies in the mind-body, body-mind relationship. Acupuncture theory as well as many theories of eastern medicine believed that this body that we inhabit is a system, it is a whole and so by treating one aspect of it we can have an influence over the other. What helps to distinguish this further for acupuncture is the theory of the organs in acupuncture and how they correspond with the five phases, also know as the five elements. Each organ and element has a characteristic, a lot of the language used to understand this is in metaphor but has a lot of clinical application. Not surprisingly, the Heart is associated with anxiety, as well as the pericardium (the literal heart protector). These organs function because of the intricate relationship it has with the other organs but also the substances it relies on, namely Qi and Blood. However, our Shen, what is often translated to as our spirit is what is most closely associated with our mental emotional state. When any of these things are out of balance the whole system goes out of balance. And so it could be anxiety, depression, anger, obsession, frustration or any number of emotional states that disrupt the Shen or it could be the organs not functioning well, either due to diet, sleep, work, play or any other number of things in our lives that affect us.
However, by using acupuncture points on the body, this can have an effect on the mind and our emotions. We are treating the body to treat the mind. For some this may seem like a far fetched idea and others might call it placebo, but if you ask any of the patients that come to see me about anxiety they would say that it works. With acupuncture have very little to no side effects, would you be willing to give it a try?