BOLTON ACUPUNCTURE - MENTAL HEALTH Christine Tassone, R.Ac
Research proves that neglected stress can wreak havoc on our minds and bodies, leading to all kinds of health issues, ranging from the physical: digestive problems, chronic pain, hormonal imbalances and insomnia, to the emotional: with fatigue, emotional outbursts, depression and anxiety.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is based on the principles that mental and physical well-being are intricately entwined, that emotional imbalances can act as both symptoms and causes for physical issues, and that mental health conditions are linked to specific physical ailments of key organs.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, emotions are limited to five basic feelings, each associated with a corresponding organ in the body:
- ‣ Anger or Repressed Anger: with the liver (which also governs your liver meridian, gallbladder meridian, muscles, tendons and blood: including blood pressure and menstruation)
- ‣ Fear or Lack of fear (risky behaviour): with the kidney (which also governs your kidney meridian, bladder meridian, bones, low back, knees, body temperature and reproductive organs)
- ‣ Joylessness or Inappropriate Joy (manic behaviour): with the heart (which also governs the heart meridian, pericardium meridian, small intestine meridian, function of the torso, and blood vessels)
- ‣ Sadness and grief : with the lung(which also governs your lung meridian, large intestine meridian, respiration, elimination of waste and skin health)
- ‣ Worry and anxiety : with the spleen(which also governs your stomach meridian, spleen meridian, pancreas, digestion, flesh, transformation and transportation of nutrients and blood)
As you can see in the explanation of the five feelings, emotions and physical health are intimately connected. This integrated mind-body approach to health and healing operates in a dynamic loop where emotions impact the health of the body and vice versa. And, because of this dual interaction of mind and body, in most cases, when addressing mental health issues with acupuncture, physical health may improve as well!