When I hear the word “trauma,” I feel its weight.
Definitions of trauma include such words and phrases as “shock,” “severe distress,” “wrenching experience,” “disastrous event,” “rape,” “combat,” and “resulting in disturbance of normal functioning.” These terms communicate severity; they communicate suffering. They imply lasting impact; they imply difficult, lengthy, and uncertain recovery. Trauma is brutal, unexpected, and unfair; it is not something we create, it is something that happens to us.
But here is the good news: while we may have been the victim of a trauma, our victimhood can end there. We are fortunate to live in a time and culture where there is help available to us, where we can access tools to help lead us out of the pain and darkness, and into a space where we can take responsibility for what happens NEXT and make a decision to come out on the other side and live fully. Recovery is not easy, but with modalities such as psychotherapy, EFT, EMDR, and many, many other options, it is most assuredly possible.
One of the most helpful tools for treating trauma is acupuncture. According to acupuncture’s underlying paradigm, there is no separation between mind, body, emotion/psyche, and spirit. And those who have experienced trauma (whether physical, psychological, or a combination of both) can attest to the fact that trauma indeed affects the whole self. Body: Victims of trauma often experience pain and other physical symptoms (physical fatigue, muscular tightness/tension, ticks & twitches, etc.). Mind: cognitive functions often falter, with symptoms such as memory loss, inability to focus, even inability to speak. Psyche: Emotional & psychological symptoms are prevalent, with depression, anxiety, fear, and anger frequently resulting from trauma. Spirit: at our deepest level, victims of trauma may experience a lack of will to go on, survivor’s guilt, existential and metaphysical confusion and despair, or a loss of faith.
Acupuncture is uniquely suited to treat trauma: it is truly a holistic – that is, “whole”-istic – medicine. It can relieve pain and other physical symptoms, it can facilitate the healthy processing of and balance of emotions, it can improve cognitive function and focus, and, practiced at its most profound levels, it can indeed shore up our core spiritual, life-affirming drives.
Precisely how acupuncture does this is a bit tricky to explain; and it is outside the scope of this short piece to fully explicate point theory and its underlying physiology. But the key to remember is that acupuncture points contain information for the healthy functioning of the whole (physical body, the mind, our emotions & psyche, and our spirit); and that when needles are inserted into the points, they activate that information. Some points represent and communicate with a specific area or system of the body: for example, there is a point on the ear called “Sympathetic”: this point specifically targets the sympathetic nervous system (our “fight-or-flight” response) and brings it back into balance, alleviating the feeling of being constantly on edge. Other points are very effective for treating pain and physical symptoms, such as He Gu / “Union Valley” which treats headaches with demonstrable effect, and Jian Jing / “Shoulder Well” which alleviates tight shoulders. Many points have close effect on emotions (for example, some points can soothe anger, and other points can mitigate fear; there are points that treat anxiety and worry, etc.). There are points on the head and elsewhere that assist brain function, focus, and a variety of mental processes. Finally, there are points such as Shen Men / “Spirit Gate” and Shen Cang / “Spirit Storehouse” and Zhi Shi / “Chamber of Will” that access our spirit and deepest animus.
While trauma carries all the gravity that its definitions assert, a complete and thoughtful course of acupuncture can help to ameliorate ALL of its effects. With the whole and thorough support acupuncture is able to provide, those who have suffered trauma can make giant steps toward recovery and into the light and promise of a full healthy life.
- Spring & STRESS! Decompress with Acupuncture! - April 13, 2014
- Treating Trauma with Acupuncture: A Holistic Approach - February 11, 2014
1 comment
Wondering if accupuncture and EMDR are supportive one another or are they counterintuitive?