“Does acupuncture treat sadness?”
A woman recently approached me and asked whether acupuncture treats sadness. I think she was surprised—and relieved—to hear me say yes! Did you ever stop to think about what emotions actually are? What is joy? What is sadness? How about worry? Where do they come from? And how does acupuncture help?
The mind and body are not separate, and emotions involve both the body and the mind. Eastern and Western medicine acknowledge (perhaps in different ways) that emotions are changes in the body and in behaviors based on an experience. We feel and express (or suppress) the emotions, yet they are not all in our minds; there are changes in our biological chemistry underlying them.
Acupuncture and Emotions
In TCM, we are particularly interested in seven emotions as expressions of disharmony: anger, joy, worry/pensiveness, grief, fear and fright. Our emotions correspond with different organs, and so expressions of emotion give us a hint as to where physical imbalances may lie. Grief and sadness, for example, correspond to the Lung (energetically) and the Metal element. If someone experiences prolonged grief—or lack of grief where it would be appropriate—it tells your acupuncturist to explore whether treatment of the Metal element would be appropriate. Each acupuncture point has a “Spirit” associated with it—a main action or intention—that can be used to treat emotions. Acupuncture helps to regulate chemical reactions in the body, to bring you back to your natural rhythm.
Feeling emotions is absolutely normal, appropriate and natural in response to what happens in our lives; people need to experience emotions and process experiences in a healthy way. We don’t seek to alter normal emotional responses. Instead, we work bring the body and mind back to a stable and comfortable place, when emotions are being over- or under-expressed.
And so yes, acupuncture can help relieve sadness, still the frenzy of worry, calm anger and irritation, overcome fear and so on—but we aren’t trying to get rid of an emotion that is appropriate. Our goal is to support you and help you find balance, whatever your situation may be.
Questions? Feel free to reach out to me!