Acupuncture, Acupressure and Anxiety

What is Anxiety?

If you have feelings of being worried, overwhelmed, or uneasy, then you are feeling anxiety. Currently, in Western treatments, there are various kinds of terms for anxiety. Interestingly, there are certain parallels between them all.

The Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety signs and symptoms may include the following:

• Too much worrying/ too much -thinking
• Sweats
• Feelings of being overwhelmed
• Tightness in the chest
• The sensation of being unable to properly breathe
• Palpitations

Western Modes of Anxiety Treatment

Conventional Western treatments for anxiety are usually anti-anxiety medicines to prevent the signals of emotions from reaching the brain.

The issue with this kind of treatment is that only the symptoms are treated but the underlying reason for anxiety is not addressed. So, once the block is lifted and then you halt taking these medications, the symptoms will likely return.

Acupuncture Treatment for Anxiety

Most acupuncturists will agree that there is not one treatment that’s most effective and safer for the treatment of anxiety than acupuncture.

Pain-free acupuncture treatment for anxiety focuses on three major internal organs: the spleen, kidneys, and liver.

Spleen Deficiency

A deficient spleen makes it more difficult to break down the foods we consume and when food these foods become hard to break down, the nutrients are poorly absorbed by the body. As a result, the body does not get the adequate production of blood. When our body does not have enough blood, the heart starts to feel a bit tired and weak. We then start to feel weak and worn which make us prone to feelings of anxiety.

Kidney Deficiency

The kidneys, in Chinese Medicine, control everything that relates to the coolness and water in our body. This coolness helps in keeping the heat down and calms the mind. If the Kidneys become weak, heat takes over and coolness becomes deficient. Heat elevated to the top of our body and affects our mind and heart resulting in anxiety.

The kidneys also are associated with fear. So, any time a person has a real fear of something his kidneys weaken resulting in anxiety.

Liver Imbalance

It is the liver that controls the information, flow of energy and nutrients to all the cells of our body. the liver is also the first organ to be affected by stress and the emotions as drug overuse and alcohol. When the liver is attacked by stress the liver tightens up and when the liver tenses up, information, flow of energy and nutrients that was smoothly flowing along the channels now start to stagnate, as well.

This stagnation is a sign that our cells and organs are not receiving the right amount of nutrients and information to effectively function causing our body to fall out of balance. When the body becomes imbalanced and suffers from stagnation, we start to feel anxiety..

Persons suffering from liver imbalances are likely to become emotionally hypersensitive. They become easily frustrated and irritated which they internalize. This results in stagnation and heat in the body leading to anxiety.

Basically, acupuncture for the treatment of anxiety eliminates the heat and stagnation in the patient and he/she then starts to feel better rather quickly due to the rapid rush of hormones, energy, and nutrients in their cells and organs.

Acupressure Points for Anxiety

You can apply acupressure on a few acupoints to help lessen the symptoms of anxiety. One should be aware that that acupressure is certainly not a good option to expert diagnosis and acupuncture treatments required by an individual.

Acupressure is an ideal complementary treatment to acupuncture therapies since it is a healing technique that you can do on yourself in between acupuncture treatments to boost the overall effects of your treatment.

To do acupressure, apply pressure using your fingers to the following acupoints for around two to three minutes whenever you start to become anxious.

1. Sp 6 (Sanyinjiao) – This point is situated in a cavity three fingers above the inside ankle along the bone. It is used to help calm the mind, increase blood and coolness, and strengthen the stomach and spleen.
2. Pc 6 (Neiguan) – Located two fingers above the wrist in between the two major tendons which can be seen by flexing your wrist. It is used to calm the mind, clear heat and stagnation, and alleviate pain.

Phoenix Acupuncture
468 Irvington Ave
South Orange, NJ 07079
(973) 821-5340
http://www.phoenixtcm.com/