Mental Health
Major depression and anxiety affect more than 28 million American annually. Depression is among the ten most frequently reported medical conditions.
Many patients seek alternative therapies because they cannot tolerate the side effects of antidepressant medications, such as SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and MAO (monomine oxidase) inhibitors. Chinese Medicine – both herbs and acupuncture – offer safer treatment and significant help.
According to Chinese medicine, there are seven emotions that a person can experience: joy, anger, worry, pensiveness, sadness, fear and fright (shock). These are normal emotions and healthy responses. But when these feeling occur for no apparent reason and are persistent, depression has set in. In the Eastern view, worry, anger, and sadness are signs of depression and can affect their associated organs, the heart, spleen, and liver.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses a variety of techniques such as acupuncture, herbal medicine and diet recommendations to treat an individual’s specific depression symptoms. Acupuncture increases cerebral serotonin, which has anti-depressant effects. Acupuncture can minimize insomnia, fatigue, and other symptoms of depression.
In conjunction with Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture can be an effective treatment that corrects the internal imbalance or root cause of the disease. If you are taking anti-depressants, we can prescribe Chinese herbs that work in conjunction with your medication to address your symptoms.
