Have you ever dealt with a traumatic experience before that your doctor may have diagnosed you with PTSD and nothing seems to be helping you? Acupuncture and TCM are widely accepted as highly effective ways to treat complex PTSD and other stress disorders, as well as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and insomnia. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a type of mental illness that develops after a person has gone through a traumatic life event. PTSD flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and sleep disorders are a few of the most common signs of PTSD.
PTSD is most commonly associated with veterans of the military. But, PTSD is also not only a problem for military veterans, it's also common in people who haven't served in the military. The people who haven't served get PTSD from traumatic life events, which include: accidents, natural disasters, surgeries, attacks, assaults, abandonment, or the death of a loved one. People of all ages can experience PTSD. People whose jobs involve exposure to violence or disturbing situations, such as first responders, social workers, or police officers, can also have PTSD because of things they have seen.
Our bodies' way to respond to extreme stress is a way to protect us. Stressful situations cause the "fight or flight" response and chemicals like adrenaline to be released. This can happen repeatedly, or to an extreme degree, because a person is literally in fear for their life, and there can be long-lasting physical and emotional effects. Everyday stress people hope to release from the body by doing exercise, meditation, laughter, and other stress-reducing activities. When a person has been through the abuse of life-threatening danger, they may have a hard time releasing stress from their bodies.
TCM can help those who have mental health issues like PTSD because it can create a context in which emotional and mental symptoms interact with physical symptoms. TCM can help address the way that trauma and negative emotions are reserved in the body, sometimes causing overwhelming emotional and physical symptoms. Acupuncture and herbs are holistic treatments for PTSD that can be used as accessories to therapy and medications to help relieve stress, sleep problems, mood disorders, negative emotions, and problems with cognitive function.
Living day to day through a traumatic event can have impacts on our mental and physical well-being. Experiencing a traumatic event influences our nervous system and our perception of the world. While the analysis of PTSD requires specific conditions to be met, experiencing any trauma can have a response on our nervous system and our concept of the world, resulting in a change in our nervous system response.
In simple terms, acupuncture and TCM can help activate a part of the brain that helps regulate physiological processes and also helps by relieving local myofascial constriction that they are/have experienced post-traumatic stress. PTSD can overlay with other types of mental health problems, and the symptoms of PTSD can often seem similar to those of other anxiety disorders or symptoms of depression.
The most frequently acknowledged symptoms of PTSD include:
1) Flashbacks
2) Nightmares
3)Avoidance of triggering places, activities, or people
4) Memory loss
5) Negative perception of everything
6) Isolating, not able to connect with people, relationship problems
7) Feeling angry
8) Hypervigilance
9) Difficulty concentrating
10) Insomnia
PTSD often accompanies other mental health issues, like anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. Chronic fatigue symptoms like fibromyalgia have been associated with PTSD. Fibromyalgia can cause generalized muscle pain, sleep problems, fatigue, and other problems that can be related to PTSD.
What are the different types of PTSD?
- Normal stress response (work or relationship stress)
- Acute stress disorders (traumatic event or life or death situation, if the short-term (30 days or less) acute signs of trauma aren't addressed, can turn into PTSD)
- Uncomplicated PTSD (car accident, victim of crime or assault)
- Complex PTSD (suffering abuse as a child, abusive relationship, domestic violence, or repeated sexual assault)
- Comorbid PTSD (substance abuse, addiction, and/or depression)
Regards to military veterans with PTSD are scared to find help for complex trauma. A lot of the soldiers who served in the Middle East in recent years have been diagnosed with PTSD, but less than half of the veterans are receiving treatment. Acupuncture can help tremendously for people suffering from PTSD because it doesn't have to involve talking about the trauma or abuse. An acupuncturist can help relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression by focusing on that person's emotional and physical needs and tailoring the treatment to fit their symptoms and lifestyle.
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