RESEARCH INTO ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT FOR STRESS & ANXIETY

I find treating people suffering from stress, anxiety, and stress-related problems to be very satisfying. After all, these are things that can quite literally suck all pleasure out of our lives.

My own experience of treating in this way is that the acupuncture can bring about a state of enhanced calmness and enable people to see things from a fresh perspective (“everything is perspective” was what one of my teachers told me when I was a student of acupuncture). Looking at it from a more scientific viewpoint, I have also recently researched various studies that illustrate the bio-medical mechanisms that acupuncture can activate to help people who are suffering from stress and anxiety either chronically or acutely:

• Acupuncture acts on areas of the brain known to reduce sensitivity to pain and stress, as well as promoting relaxation and deactivating the ‘analytical’ brain, which is responsible for anxiety and worry (Hui 2010).
• Acupuncture can regulate levels of neurotransmitters and hormones such as serotonin, noradrenaline, dopamine, and GABA; hence altering the brain’s mood chemistry to help to combat negative affective states (Lee 2009; Samuels 2008; Zhou 2008; Yuan 2007).
• Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, while acupuncture can activate the opposing parasympathetic nervous system, which initiates the relaxation response (Arranz 2007).
• Reversing pathological changes in levels of inflammatory cytokines that are associated with anxiety (Arranz 2007)
• Reversing stress-induced changes in behaviour and biochemistry (Kim 2009).

Acupuncture can be safely combined with conventional treatments such as medication or psycho-educational therapy, possibly enhancing their beneficial effects (Courbasson 2007) and reducing unwanted side-effects (Yuan 2007).