Mental Health And Chinese Medicine

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Mental Health is just plain old Health. We doubt you've ever heard someone say “I feel great, but I’m depressed!” or “My health has never been better, but Im super anxious and I’m not sleeping.” One of the things we love most about this medicine is how we don’t separate the mind from the body; emotions are intricately connected to the organs and the balance of the emotions can easily impact overall wellness.

Here are the emotions and their TCM organ pair.

Anger: Liver

Joy: Heart

Fear: Kidneys

Fright: Kidneys/Heart

Sadness: Lungs

Worry: Spleen/Lungs

Pensiveness: Spleen

Each of these emotions is “stored” in its respective organ. Predominance of a particular emotion can cause imbalances in the paired organ, and vice versa. We often see issues with anger stemming from stagnation in the Liver, and unresolved grief and sadness can take a toll on the Lungs, causing Lung Qi deficiency and resulting in asthma or chronic respiratory infections.

Fear, worry and sadness are normal human emotions that we all do (and should) experience from time to time, but when these emotions become pervasive they become anxiety and depression and can cause major problems in our lives. Some of the most common mental health issues we see in the office are anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia and unresolved grief. Some of our patients are on medication and looking for extra support, and some are hoping to stay off medications entirely. Either way, acupuncture can help! While medication can sometimes be very helpful if the problem is chemical, there are lots of other things to consider.

In Chinese Medicine, we are always looking at the whole picture of health, and one of the places we often start with when someone is struggling with anxiety and depression is the digestive system. There is so much we are learning about the gut-brain connection, and it’s such a critical place to start. Food sensitivities, microbiome imbalances, gut inflammation and constipation can all trigger anxiety and depression so it can be really helpful to focus there.

I asked my fave maternal mental health expert, Carolyn Kagan LCSW, of Alliance Therapy Practice in Stamford, where she likes to focus, and her answer: SLEEP. “Sleep is where we metabolize our daily stress, and not getting enough sleep, or getting fragmented sleep in the case of new parents, can cause major fragility of our mental health,” she said. I couldn’t agree more, and I think sleep is one area that is often overlooked. SO much healing happens while we sleep, but we live in a culture where it is not prioritized. Improving our sleep hygiene in small ways can make a HUGE impact in our overall health and wellness. Alcohol intake can also cause anxiety and depression to flare, so for many people limiting or completely cutting out alcohol can make a huge difference, as can removing inflammatory foods like sugar, gluten and dairy.

Our mental health is not separate from the rest of our body, so it’s always worth doing some investigation to see what else is going on. Sometimes small changes can make all the difference. And we’re here to help. 💙💙 Book an appointment today!