The 3 Rules: How Acupuncture Treats Anxiety

by Cailin O'Hara, MAcOM, LAc, Dipl OM

It is said that people care less about what you do and more about how you can help them. Explaining how acupuncture treats anxiety can be complicated. Maybe you're curious or maybe you don't believe it can work for you. But if you're living with anxiety, there's one thing that's for sure: you're tired of it interfering with your life. 

So...How Does Acupuncture Treat Anxiety?

This is the most commonly asked question. How does acupuncture work?​ Here are some basic rules, according to Chinese medicine, that may help you to understand how acupuncture can treat your symptoms of anxiety.

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Rule #1:​ We do not diagnose you with “anxiety.” 

"Anxiety" is a Western medical diagnosis. ​When you seek acupuncture treatment for anxiety, we (your practitioner, that is) will ask you a lot of questions about your health regardless of your symptoms. We then compile this information and diagnose you as a series of patterns, not single symptom.

Examples of Patterns Treated
​in Chinese Medicine:

• Pattern A) difficult time falling asleep at night, dry eyes and hair, vivid dreams, PMS symptoms, tends toward constipation, experiences anxiety as panic attacks with racing heart 

• Pattern B) wakes feeling groggy, craves sugar, abdominal bloating, mid-day fatigue, foggy-thinking, experiences anxiety as excessive worry (often while trying to fall asleep)

• Pattern C) frequent flushing in the face, headaches, neck tension, tendency toward irritability, rapid heartbeat, experiences anxiety as tightness in the stomach and shortness of breath

Do any of these sound familiar to you? Notice each pattern's array of symptoms and how they all experience anxiety differently. 

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Rule #2: Your patterns represent areas of underlying imbalances in your physiology and your being.

Problems with your health- physical or emotional- arise from some type of imbalance. If one system is out of balance, it generally affects other systems. Sleep, digestion, emotions, concentration, energy… it’s all connected. Everything affects everything else and contributes to the harmony or imbalance in our systems. 

Everything is connected. A single stressful experience can take a toll on all of our systems and create imbalances that can become more severe over time if left untreated.

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Rule #3: Acupuncture can access the body's innate ability to heal and restore harmony to imbalanced systems. 

Your body is constantly working to maintain homeostasis and balance. When your systems are in harmony, you feel well on all levels. There are hundreds of acupuncture points on the body, and each one has specific functions for balancing specific systems. For anxiety, acupuncture can harmonize the underlying imbalances that are causing your symptoms. From racing thoughts and sweaty palms to generalized worries about daily life to immobilizing PTSD, there are acupuncture treatments that can help. 

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How often do I have to come in for treatments? 
How long will it take until I feel better?
Will I have to rely on acupuncture for the rest of my life?

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The answers to these questions will pleasantly surprise you!
​Next time we'll talk about what a treatment plan looks like and just how quickly you'll start to feel better.

​Stay tuned and take good care of yourself.