Acupuncture and GAD: Generalized Anxiety Disorder
I appreciate seeing this particular disorder being researched in biomedicine using acupuncture. This article says that about 3% of the American population experiences GAD, as compared with 2-4.7% in China. If we look at the number of people in America, quoted as 317, 860, 300 as of this writing, that's about 953, 580 thousand people. Close to 1 million people.
I have found acupuncture to give immediate relief to people suffering with anxiety, even when they are experiencing a panic attack. Over the 8 years of my practice, in addition to 4 years in school, I have consistently seen people dealing with long term anxiety issues.
While the causal factors need to be addressed, which can largely be triggered by emotional stress, acupuncture and Chinese medicine can immediately interrupt the sympathetic nervous system response and allow the body to come into a calmer parasympathetic state. It not only works on reducing the immediate stress response but it also treats the person's underlying deficiency patterns to strengthen them so that the negative hormonal cascade can begin to self-correct. This is crucial as it also helps regain normal sleep patterns, which, as we know, are essential for self-regulation.
Drugs such as the SSRI's and benzodiazepines have noted side effects, and it would be great if more people were educated as to the benefits of Chinese medicine in treating anxiety. It is not usually the "silver bullet," but in conjunction with appropriate psychosomatic therapies and diet and herbs, I have seen a profound and lasting impact with those suffering from anxiety disorders.
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