MIND-BODY MEDICINE & WELLNESS
Understanding Chinese Medicine Psychology
How Can Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture Help With Mental Health?
East Asian medicine has never separated mind and body. It is, in fact one of the longest continuous forms of holistic, mind-body medicine in existence and is rooted in thousands of years of scholarly theory, exploration and study.
Modern Science & Acupuncture
In more recent years, research on acupuncture has exploded. We are learning that acupuncture doesn't only help things like pain by remodeling connective tissue and reducing inflammation but it can actually affect our brain and nervous system. You see, sometimes the mind-body gets out of balance. When there is chronic pain, trauma, dysregulated emotions and PTSD, the body can begin to think those states are normal. It is like the volume gets turned up in the brain. Acupuncture can provide what I call a "neurological reset" by downregulating those states and helping the body to reestablish balance.
A great example of this is modern electroacupuncture (something I do) which can be especially helpful in resetting the vagus nerve. The vagus is important in putting a brake on dysregulated trauma states that can cause people to be in a chronic state of fight, fight or freeze leading to not only chronic stress - but increased risk of chronic illness.
This is not even to mention acupuncture's effects on brain chemicals like dopamine (pleasure, motivation, reward system), seratonin (mood regulation, low levels connected to depression) and others. Acupuncture has also been used extensively by the VA for our veterans and for addiction recovery.
Interested in more science, check out this 12 min TEDx talk by acupuncturist, researcher (and my former classmate) John Rybek. Or if you would rather focus on psychology, scroll past it to the next section.
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Ancient Wisdom Combined With Leading-Edge Western Psychology
East Asian medicine has long understood that there are three levels of treatment. The lowest level deals with common illness and injuries and is the realm of the technician. The middle level deals with "the nourishment of one's nature."* This is the tradition of preventative medicine. But the highest class of medicines "govern the nourishment of destiny."* In modern language, it means to free a person from the unconscious patterns that lead to suffering and to support a person to fully express their gifts in the world.
Right now, these mind-body and inner traditions of medicine are integrating with the leading edge of western integral psychology, alchemical traditions, and depth traditions -- allowing individuals to get to the root of chronic health and mental health conditions. This is the tradition that Dr. Tabitha has trained in -- specifically the 5 element tradition, Japanese palpation based acupuncture, and the work of scholars such as Lonnie Jarrett and Lori Dechar.
* Jarrett, L. (2009). Nourishing Destiny: The inner tradition of Chinese Medicine. Spirit Path Press.
An example of a “neurological reset.”
10 YEARS OF NIGHTMARES GONE
"About 10 years earlier I had dived into a swimming pool that turned out to be only 4 feet deep...In the years that followed I had several bad dreams about this episode and would wake up shaking.After discussing this with Tabitha she offered a…reset via her acupuncture/massage therapy. It is amazing how successful it has been. I do avoid thinking about the trauma, but haven’t had a bad dream about it for a few years now."
