World Mental Health Day
Its World Mental Health Day!
A day to open up the conversation about mental illness and try and break down stigma.
Mental health is something I feel really passionate about. Firstly, in my personal life. As mental health affects more and more people, I don’t think any of my friends have not been affected by mental health, either themselves or within their families. And my family and I are no exception to this. But also, in my work life. I am really interested in treating mental illness. I think acupuncture is an amazing therapy to use for this and today I want to explain how acupuncture can help.
In the west, we see the acknowledgement of the link between the mind and body as something new. That this is something we are learning about and starting to realise. However, within Chinese medicine this has always been in the foundation of how you treat a patient and heal the body. Each organ in Chinese medicine carries out functions, for example the heart is responsible for the circulation of blood. As well as physical functions, each also pertains to a certain emotion. So the heart is linked to happiness and joy and is therefore involved in the regulation and appropriate presentation of that emotion.
So whenever we treat a patient we will consider your emotions and mental wellbeing, even if you don’t think it can be related to your main complaint.
But let’s look at the western science behind acupuncture and mental health. Mental health of course, is a broad term with the pathogenesis (development of disease) being vastly different from patient to patient. So today, let’s just look at three big hormones involved in our mental wellbeing specifically around anxiety and depression. These are serotonin, dopamine and melatonin. Acupuncture has been proven to affect all three.
Serotonin:
Serotonin is a hormone that is commonly known as the happiness hormone and reduced levels can result in depression and anxiety. Acupuncture has been proven to cause changes to the serotonergic mechanism (the system inside the body that produces serotonin) and in turn increase production [1].
Dopamine:
Dopamine is again involved in depression and anxiety. It can also have a big impact on our motivation and memory, two things that can often drop when suffering from depression. Rather than increase levels of dopamine, acupuncture has been shown to enhance the synaptic dopamine availability [2]. Essentially this means acupuncture makes your body more able to use dopamine that you already have.
Melatonin:
And finally, melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that is responsible for controlling our sleep wake cycle and therefore reduced amounts can cause insomnia and sleep disturbances [3]. Sleep disturbances are often another symptom with depression and anxiety. It is also shown to have anti-anxiety effects [4]. Melatonin can be given as a medication to anxiety patients however using acupuncture can also raise melatonin levels.
So now this all sounds fabulous, acupuncture is the answer. But the truth is acupuncture can’t work alone. Having talking therapy and making lifestyle changes like diet, exercise and mental practices will all be involved. And as ever, there is no quick fix. It will be a process that will take more than just the needles. But your acupuncturist should be able to help you with making lifestyle changes and the needles can really make a difference.
This world mental health day, start the process, or help someone else to make a start, or take the next step. And that doesn’t just have to be with acupuncture.
[1] Lee, E., & Warden, S. (2016). The effects of acupuncture on serotonin metabolism. European Journal Of Integrative Medicine, 8(4), 355-367. doi: 10.1016/j.eujim.2016.06.022
[2] Kim, S., Doo, A., Park, J., Bae, H., Chae, Y., & Shim, I. et al. (2011). Acupuncture Enhances the Synaptic Dopamine Availability to Improve Motor Function in a Mouse Model of Parkinson's Disease. Plos ONE, 6(11), e27566. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027566
[3] Seithikurippu R, A. (2015). Melatonin, the Hormone of Darkness: From Sleep Promotion to Ebola Treatment. Brain Disorders & Therapy, 04(01). doi: 10.4172/2168-975x.1000151
[4] Sun, X., Wang, Y., Jiang, N., & Du, Z. (2016). The Potential Role of Melatonin on Mental Disorders: Insights from Physiology and Pharmacology. Bipolar Disorder: Open Access, 2(1). doi: 10.4172/2472-1077.1000105
