Calming the Spirit: Chinese Medicine and Mental Health

Although most patients come to see me for physical complaints, like back and shoulder pain, painful urination, migraines, or asthma, many find improvement in their mental state as well. A few of Chinese medicine’s good “side effects” include better sleep, less anxiety and depression, and help in stress management. After their first treatment, most of my patients notice that they feel more relaxed and often ask me why.

A few of Chinese medicine’s good “side effects” include better sleep, less anxiety and depression, and help in stress management. For example, a patient who was coming in for a skin condition also found that his long time anxiety disorder was greatly improved. Another patient who was coming in for the treatment of lower back pain also struggled with insomnia. After a few treatments, he began to sleep much better. As one patient who was coming for help with shoulder and back pain, put it, “I find that my body and spirit are in stronger alignment and that I have more energy and fewer general complaints.”

Chinese medicine’s ability to improve overall health and improve quality of life for people is one of the most powerful and mysterious aspects of the treatment. So, how does it address the whole person, both the body and mind at the same time? To answer that question we must first understand Chinese medicine’s holistic view of the body.

Chinese Medicine’s Holistic View of the Body

Chinese medicine physiology discusses the strong effect emotions have on the physical aspects of the body. In diagnosis and treatment, Chinese medicine links specific emotions with specific functions in the body. Stress and worrying can affect the digestive system. Stress can also cause pain, because it stops the free flow of qi. Fear can impact urination. Anger causes heat and can lead to headaches or dizziness.

Connecting the physical body to the emotions makes sense. We all know when we are nervous because we physically feel it. Your heart rate increases, you may get sweaty palms, or even blush. It is also widely known that stress and anxiety can have a negative impact on health. Emotions affect our physical health, but it can also work the other way. Our physical health can affect the emotions as well. That’s why regular physical activity, stretching, yoga, and tai chi, makes us feel better emotionally.


Chinese medicine therapies, like acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and acupressure, are all physical treatments, but they also impact mental health. Sometimes emotional distress can cause the disease. Other times, the overall imbalance in your body is the cause of your main problem. By correcting these imbalances the treatment addresses both the mind and body.

How does Chinese Medicine Address the Whole Person?

The metaphor of the root and branch symbolize Chinese medicine’s approach to treatment. The branch is the symptom, such as pain. The root is the main imbalance that causes the disease. A Chinese medicine physician’s goal is to treat the root of the problem, not just the branch. Correcting the root can lead to long-term improvement and recovery.

For example, back pain. The pain itself is the branch of the disease. The underlying imbalance is the root. In many cases, the imbalance is caused by poor circulation of qi, or energy, which causes the muscles to remain tight. The lack of qi flow also creates other problems, such as poor sleep. By improving the flow of the qi, the treatment addresses the root imbalance. This not only reduces the back pain but also improves sleep.


Modern Research About Acupuncture’s Holistic Effects

Contemporary research is beginning to show how acupuncture works in the brain to affect both physical and mental health. Using an fMRI scanner, a scan that tracks blood flow within the brain, scientists have shown that acupuncture affects a part of the brain called the limbic system. The limbic system is involved with emotional control. It is also involved with memory and behaviors such as addictions as well as hormonal regulation.

This remarkable study showed that acupuncture may calm the parts of the brain associated with the limbic system, therefore resulting in a calming effect on the person’s state of being. It is possible that acupuncture’s cumulative long-term capacity to improve health and well-being may have something to do with this ability to calm the limbic system.

Mirror Therapy

There is a great article in the New Yorker this week about mirror therapy by Atul Gawande.

This new therapy retrains the brain of those with pain and other neurological problems to be healthy. The theory is that our visual perception of our bodies influences how we feel.

More and more we are seeing that diseases are actually in our heads!

Chinese Herbs for Traveling Part 1

Next week I am going to Guatemala, and in addition to being very excited. I am reminded to prepare for my trip by getting some Chinese herbs which can take care of those stomach issues on the road.

The best all around herbal formula for travelers digestive woes is Huo xiang zheng qi tang, which translates to the Patchoui formula for correcting the qi. This formula is very useful for mild to moderate stomach problems like traveler's diarrhea. Take it as soon as you feel a little bad. This is an aromatic formula which boosts digestion through pungent herbs like patchoui and ginger.

This formula is not for extreme travelers revenge. That will be posted in Part 2.

Immidiate Relief from Shingles

Most patients come to see me for chronic issues like chronic pain or skin conditions. But Chinese medicine can also give fast relieve and healing.

This patient was a old patient of mine, who had found relief for irregular menses and digestive issues. But this time, she came in with Shingles. I noticed a number of my patients had shingles this spring. Shingles are a reemergence of the chicken pox virus which usually travels along the course of a nerve.

She is a young woman in her 30's. The lesions were on the left side of upper back and scapula on the small intestine channel and traveled down her arm on two specific channels, the left pericardium and heart channels. The lesions were red, hot, and somewhat itchy, but the pain was not extremely intense. The upper back and scapula was the most intense region of lesions and discomfort.

She also complained of alternating chills and fever and slight nausea. Pulse was stringlike and she had an thin fur on her tongue.

Diagnosis: Shao yang pattern with heat erupting on the tai yang channels

Treatment:
Herbs- Xiao chai hu tang with dao chi san. This formula harmonizes the body and will drain heat from the heart channels.
Topically- patient used neem oil, a natural Indian oil for rashes and skin diseases.
Acupuncture- SJ 5, GB 41, Du 20, and Plum Blossom needle around the lesions

Results: After herbs, patient was feeling immediately better. She felt the neem oil help remove the feeling of heat. The herbs also removed the feeling of heat and discomfort. Shingles usually stay around for 2-3 weeks with a lot of pain, discomfort and itch. After only one week her lesions were almost all gone on her upper back. There were only a few on her arm which were not bothersome.

Usually I treat chronic issues, but Chinese medicine can also be very useful for acute problems with almost immediate relief.

AARP Is opening to Alternative Medicine

AARP is publishing a lot about Alternative Medicine these days. This recent article, talks about how the US medical system is beginning to focus on improving quality of life through acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

How Acupuncture Helps Pain

Recently, many of my patients have been asking me about how acupuncture treats chronic pain. This is not surprising because the majority of Americans are in chronic pain or have experienced it. So, I’ve decided to answer the question in this newsletter.

Pain can affect almost every system in the body and develops from many sources. It can occur from a chronic immune disorder, after an infection, from a physical injury, or from emotional stress. Often, pain stays around a long time after an injury has healed.

As a teenager, I first sought out Chinese medicine to treat my own chronic pain. For several years I suffered from back pain. It was quite severe for my age, keeping me from playing sports, getting regular exercise, and fully enjoying myself. No one knew what it was from and everyone had their own theory: I was growing too fast, growing too slow, my muscle didn’t develop, or my muscles were too tight. After trying various remedies, and being called a complainer by my not so friendly general practitioner, I tried Chinese medicine. It was the only thing that stopped the pain.

How does Chinese medicine address pain?

Chinese medicine addresses pain by helping the body heal itself. It not only treats symptoms, like taking a painkiller, but also corrects imbalances in the body, thereby, allowing the body to heal itself.

Recently, several scientific studies have attempted to figure out what exactly this healing process is. To explain a few of the concepts, I’ll use my back pain as an example. Although, I feel the pain in my back, the perception of pain is created in the brain. Acupuncture works not only to heal the pain locally, in my back, but also in my brain. Unlike other approaches, acupuncture treats both sources of the pain.

Often, the acupuncture itself focuses on the location of the pain. In my case, it was the lower back. The fibroblasts, the cells of the connective tissue in the area, actually grab onto the needle. The ends of the cells then wrap themselves around the needle.[i] Then the cells begin to change shape and rearrange their own support system, probably working to correct injuries. This is also a method for cells to communicate with one another, so one cell can broadcast messages of self-healing to other cells in the tissue.[ii] In addition, the nucleus begins to expand, which signals the first stages of gene expression to repair the cell and the tissue around it.

The phenomenon in which the body grabs onto the needle has been known to Chinese medicine physicians for thousands of years and is described as “getting the qi.” As a practioner, this is how I know when the point is stimulated correctly. I can actually feel the body grab the needle, which tells me that the body is reacting well to the treatment.

Chinese Medicine Healing the Whole Body

While the acupuncture treatment may be focused on the painful area, the purpose of each acupuncture treatment addresses the whole body. As I mentioned before, one way acupuncture addresses the whole body is through the brain.

We forget a lot of things, like where we put your keys or our mother’s birthday. But, the brain does not like to forget pain. Often, the brain remembers pain long after an injury has healed itself. Using an fMRI scanner, a scan that tracks blood flow within the brain, scientists have shown that acupuncture can change the brain patterns for those with chronic pain.

One of the best studies that used fMRI focused on individuals with carpel tunnel syndrome.[iii] After the treatment, the pain was greatly reduced and the nerve health of the arm was improved. In addition, the carpel tunnel pain pattern within the brain was much more like that of a healthy person than before the treatment.

Working both at the area of pain and in the brain, acupuncture helps to reduce chronic pain by reteaching the body to be healthy. As we learn more about acupuncture we are also discovering how much the ancient clinical science of acupuncture and Chinese medicine has to add to our knowledge of the human body.

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[i] Langevin HM, Churchill DL, Wu J. Et. al. Evidence of Connective Tissue Involvement in Acupuncture. FASEB Journal. April 10, 2002. Published Online.

[ii] Langevin HM, Bouffard NA, Badger GJ, Et. al. Subcutaneous Tissue Fibroblast Cytoskeletal Remodeling Induced by Acupuncture: Evidence for Mechanotransduction-Based Mechanism. J Cell Phys. 2006; (207): 767-774.

[iii] Napadow, V. Kettner N., Liu J. Et. al. Hypothalamus and Amygdala Response to Acupuncture Stimuli in Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. Pain. 2007; (130): 254-266.

Belly Breathing

Back in eighth grade, Mr. Hankinson, our shell-shocked gym teacher, used to yell in my ear, "Stand up straight, stick your chest out. Why are you breathing with your belly? Only BABIES breathe with their bellies. Breath into your chest like a MAN."

He was right. Babies do breath into their abdomen. But good old Mr. Hankinson did not know that belly breathing is more natural and relaxing. Breathing with your belly maximizes the use of your diaphragm muscle, which is located between the chest and abdomen, and is the primary muscle of respiration.

Natural diaphragm breathing contracts the diaphragm, causing the abdomen to rise and fall. This reduces the use of the intercostals, which are much smaller and less efficient muscles, located in between the ribs. Mr. Hankinson's chest breathing focuses more on the use of these intercostal muscles. So, it is actually less efficient than belly breathing.

Breathing impacts and reflects the state of the body and the mind. When you are scared, excited, or nervous, you breathe faster. But when you are calm or sleeping, you breathe slower. It also works in reverse. By controlling your breath you can impact your state of mind. Breathing is the easiest involuntary action of our body to influence.

Patients who practice natural diaphragmatic breathing tell me they experience greater relaxation, more energy, and less pain, particularly in the back and neck. Because the diaphragm gently massages the digestive track, this technique can also help regulate your bowel movements.

Practice your Natural Breathing

1. Sit on a chair with your feet on the floor or lie flat on your back.

2. Hold your hands just below your belly button. The palms should face your abdomen.

3. Relax your shoulders and chest and breathe into your hands allowing your stomach to naturally rise and fall.

4. You can imagine a ball of energy in your hands which you are filling as you inhale. When you exhale, imagine releasing all the tension and stress in your body.

5. If you find this difficult at first, gently touch your stomach an inch below your navel and imagine breathing into that spot.

6. Do this for 5-10 minutes per day or whenever you feel particularly stressed. Gradually, this will become your normal breathing method.