Stress and Anxiety Acupuncture

Sean is an experienced acupuncturist and practitioner with a history of working with people needing support with stress, anxiety, depression or other mental health situations.

Chronic stress or a traumatic experience can overstimulate the nervous system to affect sleep, digestion, immunity, mood, emotions, pain response, and many other essential systems.

Acupuncture is a fantastic tool to help combat the negative effects of stress as it works to balance the nervous system, helping to down-regulate the fight-or-flight response responsible for stress symptoms.

Acupuncture can reduce feelings and symptoms of stress and anxiety, regulate emotions and improve sleep quality and quantity, and importantly it is a drug-free therapy. With acupuncture, every patient is considered unique and treatments are tailored to specific needs.

It is easy, relaxing, accessible and can seamlessly be integrated with other medical treatments such as counselling or medical prescriptions.

Research on acupuncture and postpartum depression concluded that acupuncture plus counselling is as effective as medication to treat more serious depression or anxiety, without potential side effects such as nausea, dizziness or loss of appetite. https://womensmentalhealth.org/posts/acupuncture-postpartum-depression/

This study with 120 randomized patients found that “acupuncture had a large effect on reducing anxiety and depression compared to conventional treatment involving pharmacological approaches and psychotherapy, with over twice the reduction in symptoms”

https://www.evidencebasedacupuncture.org/present-research/acupuncture-anxiety/

How does the treatment look like?

Treatments frequency varies depending on your situation, however weekly treatments for 6-8 weeks is one course of treatment and can address many issues. Ongoing biweekly or monthly treatments are often required for ongoing care and prevention. Everyone responds slightly differently to acupuncture therapy and it can take some time to understand how it works best for you.

Research Shows that Acupuncture Works

Depression, Insomnia, rumination, anxiety, stress, irritability/anger, addiction, PTSD.

Acupuncture and electroacupuncture for anxiety disorders

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29705474/

“Overall, there is good scientific evidence encouraging acupuncture therapy to treat anxiety disorders as it yields effective outcomes, with fewer side effects than conventional treatment.”

Electroacupuncture and stress/depression

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27904490

“Electroacupuncture improves depressive behavior faster and with fewer adverse effects than antidepressant medication” (Duan, DM. 2016) “Acupuncture and Electroacupuncture (EA) can support and outperform medication for depression and anxiety without side effects”

Electroacupuncture and Anxiety

http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/jnp.16.1.19

“Acupuncture Increases Nocturnal Melatonin Secretion and Reduces Insomnia and Anxiety” (Warren Spence, 2004) “Acupuncture reduces anxiety and improves sleep quality”

Acupuncture and PTSD

http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/2007/06000/Acupuncture_for_Posttraumatic_Stress_Disorder__A.7.aspx

“Symptom reductions at end treatment were maintained at 3-month follow-up for both interventions. Acupuncture may be an efficacious and acceptable non-exposure treatment option for PTSD.”

Acupuncture and Chronic pain/Stress

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/030439597790077X

“Responders…were found to be less depressed, less passive and overly conventional, have shorter duration of pain, endorse less frequent exposure to stressors, and have less serious non pain-related illnesses. The findings are viewed as linking the intractability of pain states with psychosocial factors which may directly interfere with response to somatic modes of therapy or which may interfere via alterations of tonic neurohumoral factors.”

Electroacupuncture and Stress

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23386059/

“The results of this study indicate that electroacupuncture at a specific point blocks the stress-induced elevations in the nervous system, which may be the reason why it has stress reducing effects. “