Acupuncture for Mental Health
Mental health has become a priority, due to how important it is in daily life and how long it has been neglected in healthcare. It is also an especially difficult area to work with, as everyone has a different state of mind and different life experiences. For those struggling with their mental health, who are sick of suffering in silence or hesitant about conventional treatments, acupuncture could help them along their wellness journey.
Risks of Conventional Treatments
Depression, anxiety, and PTSD are complex mental health issues that are unfortunately on the rise. The most common treatments recommended are antidepressant medications and therapy, however, these treatments have limited effectiveness. For one, there is still a strong stigma around starting antidepressants and going to therapy, due to the perspective that mental health issues either don’t exist, or should be “toughed out.” While we are strong proponents of seeking therapy, we know that it can be difficult and time-consuming to find the right one. And while antidepressants can be very helpful in severe cases, there are many drawbacks.
Antidepressants are often prescribed at the first signs of mental health disturbances. Meanwhile, the important lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, and stressors that should be addressed first are often ignored. Approaching treatment in this way results in these factors continuing to contribute to poor mental health, and hoping that the “band-aid” of antidepressants will solve these underlying problems. Because of this, antidepressants can only treat the symptoms that arise from these factors, but they cannot treat the root causes.
Additionally, antidepressants often have severe negative side effects that can require additional treatment, or cause people to stop taking them entirely. Due to these complications with common mental health treatments, people have begun to seek out less risky alternatives, like acupuncture.
Mental Healing with Acupuncture
Acupuncture is becoming an increasingly popular treatment for both physical and mental issues, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Although much of the research is still in its early stages, some studies have shown that acupuncture is as effective as the antidepressant Fluoxetine (generic for Prozac) at treating depression, and Paroxetine at reducing PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms. This may, in part, be due to the fact that acupuncture causes the body to release serotonin, and the point of these types of antidepressants, called SSRIs, is to make serotonin more available to the body.
Serotonin is known as a “happy hormone,” because it is released when we feel good. Having regular levels keeps our mood stable, while having low levels increases feelings of depression and anxiety. An important difference is that while SSRIs take between 1 to 3 months to have a noticeable effect, the increase in serotonin during acupuncture is immediate.
Acupuncture also causes the release of endorphins, which are other natural “feel good” chemicals that can lift mood and reduce pain. An additional benefit of pursuing acupuncture for mental health is that acupuncturists take a holistic approach to treatment, which means that they address their patient’s lifestyle as well.
By following these recommendations about diet, exercise, and reducing stress, both the symptoms and some of the root causes of mental health issues can be treated at the same time, resulting in lasting improvements.