In Chinese Medicine there is no separation of the province of disease. Regardless of whether you are experiencing back pain or emotional pain, you go to see your Acupuncturist. Sometimes the back pain has been caused by the emotional pain, after all. The afflictions of the seven emotions are well documented throughout the multitude of ancient texts we use to treat everyday maladies. Each of the five phases is associated with it's own organ, sound, color, direction, season and emotion, among other things. (my italics, of course) Many times when we are asking our patients questions about their emotions we are searching for the root of the problem.
The modern Chinese term for pycho-somatic medicine is xingshen bingxue. Let's clarify the terms. Psycho-somatic is a physical malady or condition caused or triggered by emotional conflict or stresses. It's alternately defined as any malady involving both the mind and the spirit.
Xing (matter)shen (spirit) Bingxue is the study of how the body and the mind relate in the progression of disease.(1) When the heart/mind connection is assaulted with violence the body is thrown into a turmoil of reaction. For some patients this becomes depression; unable to move out of the moment of violence itself and weighed down by it's inescapable miasma. For others it is PTSD and the entire world around them seems like a trigger waiting to cause a panic attack; thrown back into the experience of terror to relive it again and again.
The xingshen must be mended for lasting progress to be made. For many patients with depression a therapist can only help so much. Medications have a multitude of side effects ranging from the irksome (bloating, dry eyes) to relationship damaging (sexual dysfunction) and, at worst, the deadly (liver failure). This is where acupuncture can add the crucial missing element, to help complete the picture of what whole health looks like.
The sheer volume of studies done in the last ten years looking at the efficacy of acupuncture for stress, anxiety and depression is staggering. A recent review of studies through 2011 of clinical trials found acupuncture to be as effective at treating depression as standard talk therapy with or without the addition of common depression medications. (2)
As far as the US Military is concerned, there must be enough proof for them, because they have embraced acupuncture in a huge way. PCOM-NY (my dear alum) has long had a intern program with the VA hospital to treat everything from addiction to chronic pain to depression and PTSD. One of the biggest problems for returning vets is struggling to re-acclimate to a world without constant impending violence. Many survivors of violent assault or events attest to the same feelings of waiting for something similar, or worse, to happen again.
Reuniting the mind-body connection that has damaged by trauma is a natural extension of the holistic healing approach of acupuncture. The disconnection lies between that which roots us to the world and gives us the will to be active within it and that which harbors the calm, serene spirit and mind. Regardless of what the body feels in those moments of panic, the mind can once again find a safe harbor.
(1) Heiner Fruehauf "all diseases come from the heart: the pivotal role of the emotions if classical Chinese medicine" classicalchinesemeicine.org( 2) Acupuncture for depression: a review of clinical applications Wu, et al. CanJPsychiatry 2012;57(7):397-405
