If you’ve ever experienced a traumatic event, you know that its effects don’t just vanish with time. Unfortunately, trauma lingers – in the body and mind, affecting daily life. You may feel constant reminders of what happened through flashbacks, chronic stress, or even physical symptoms like headaches and muscle tension. But what if there was a way to help your body and mind heal naturally?
Acupuncture has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine and other Eastern cultures as a natural, holistic way to restore balance and promote emotional well-being. Today, acupuncture for trauma is gaining recognition as a promising treatment option for those struggling with trauma-related symptoms and PTSD. But how does it work, and what can it do for people struggling with these issues?.
Understanding Trauma & Its Effects: The Body’s Response
In order to understand how acupuncture for trauma works, first, we need to look at how trauma itself manifests in the body and mind. When we experience a traumatic event, our nervous system goes into fight, flight or freeze mode. This is the body’s natural response to danger – an evolutionary defense mechanism designed to protect us from threats by heightening awareness, increasing adrenaline, and preparing the body to take immediate action.
While this response is crucial for survival, helping us avoid or react to dangerous situations, problems arise when it persists long after the threat is gone. For some, it diminishes and fades over time. For others, especially those with adverse childhood experiences or PTSD, the nervous system can remain ‘stuck’ in high alert and can disrupt daily life.
Emotional trauma doesn’t just stay in the mind – it lives in the body, too. This is why many trauma survivors experience physical symptoms such as:
- Muscle stiffness/tension and chronic pain
- Digestive issues
- Fatigue and hormonal imbalances
- Rapid heartbeat and shallow breathing.
How Trauma Affects the Brain
When a person experiences trauma, their brain undergoes structural and chemical changes meant to enhance survival, particularly in areas that regulate fear and emotions. These changes can also create a cycle where the brain stays stuck in survival mode, making trauma feel inescapable even long after the initial event has passed.
- Amygdala (the fear center): Since it is responsible for detecting threats, the amygdala becomes overactive, constantly scanning for danger even when none exists, making individuals feel constantly on edge.
- Prefrontal cortex (rational thinking): Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex, which helps with logical thinking and emotional regulation, weakens, making it harder to process rational thoughts, calm down after stress, and feel safe.
- Hippocampus (memory processing): This brain area can shrink, leading to distorted memories, difficulties distinguishing between past and present danger, and flashbacks.
This can lead to a range of psychological and emotional problems, such as:
- Anxiety, panic attacks, or emotional numbness
- Difficulty sleeping and concentrating
- Depression, emotional detachment, and more.
What Is Acupuncture for Trauma & How Does It Work? Mechanisms of Action
These effects of trauma, both emotional and physical, can make everyday life overwhelming. Persistent conditions resulting from traumatic events can interfere with personal relationships, the ability to hold a job, and the overall quality of life and health of individuals affected by these issues. This is where acupuncture for trauma steps in.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese practice with a longstanding history that uses thin needles to stimulate specific points on the body (known as acupoints), promoting healing and balance. But how could it potentially help with trauma, PTSD, and emotional release, among others? Acupuncture for mental health is a promising avenue with a growing interest from the scientific community for addressing trauma-related disorders and alleviating their associated symptoms.
Regulates the Nervous System
Acupuncture has the potential to shift the body from a fight-or-flight state into a calmer, more balanced state. The wide-ranging and promising benefits of acupuncture for anxiety can help individuals regain emotional stability, reduce stress levels, and improve overall mental well-being, making it easier to navigate daily life without being overwhelmed by past trauma.
Releases Trapped Emotions
Trauma can get stored in the body as tension. Acupuncture helps release these emotional blockages, allowing for healing. For example, someone who has been in a traffic accident might develop persistent neck pain and experience intense anxiety every time they get into a vehicle, as a constant reminder of the trauma they experienced. By relieving the neck pain and soothing anxious responses, acupuncture treatments might help the person regain a sense of normalcy and feel safer in triggering situations.
Supports Hormonal Balance
Acupuncture encourages the release of endorphins and serotonin (popularly known as the ‘feel-good’ chemical) – two vital neurotransmitters that regulate mood and emotional stability. Many individuals experiencing trauma may suffer from lowered serotonin levels, leading to symptoms of depression or anxiety. Together, the stimulating effects on these neurotransmitters contribute to a holistic approach to healing from trauma, addressing both the physical and emotional aspects of recovery.
Reduces Physical Symptoms
Many trauma survivors experience physical pain, headaches, and fatigue. Acupuncture is commonly used and widely researched as an effective natural treatment for chronic pain that could ease these discomforts. By stimulating sensory nerves under the skin and in the muscles, it promotes the production of the body’s natural pain-relieving substances, with the potential to avoid or reduce opioid reliance, which is commonly associated with these issues.
Research Exploring Acupuncture for Trauma-Related Symptoms & Disorders
For the past 50 years, scientists have extensively been studying the wide-ranging effects of acupuncture, with numerous works examining its ability to support trauma recovery. Today, it has been classified as a non-pharmacological and non-psychological approach to the treatment of PTSD. Let’s go over some of the most significant findings.
Mechanisms of Action
Let’s start with a comprehensive meta-analysis from 2023 that explored the underlying mechanisms that we just discussed above. While going through evidence from animal and clinical studies, researchers found that the benefits of acupuncture in dealing with PTSD appear to be multi-faceted, working through various mechanisms, including enhancing neuroprotection, promoting neurogenesis, supporting synaptic plasticity, etc.
These neurological improvements were complemented by acupuncture’s influence on the body’s stress responses, particularly within the neuroendocrine system. By regulating hormones and neurotransmitters that are often disrupted in trauma survivors, acupuncture may aid in restoring balance and mitigating symptoms associated with PTSD.
PTSD
A relatively recent 2020 study on treatment for PTSD examining the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating post-traumatic stress disorder concluded that these treatments affect the autonomic nervous system, prefrontal, and limbic brain structures, relieving the symptoms of PTSD.
A medical review focusing on military personnel with combat-related PTSD suggested that acupuncture may be a beneficial intervention, either as a standalone therapy or in combination with conventional treatments. Given the high-risk nature of combat exposure for developing PTSD, acupuncture shows promise in helping trauma recovery for veterans and service members.
While more research is needed to fully understand its promising potential, findings such as these highlight acupuncture as an effective treatment option for a wide range of trauma-related disorders.
Integrative Approaches: Combining Acupuncture for Trauma with Other Treatments
If you’re considering acupuncture for trauma, integrating it with other therapies can enhance the success rate of your recovery journey. A study published in Translational Psychiatry that explored memory-directed acupuncture proposed treating trauma-related disorders by combining conversational techniques with acupuncture to enhance therapeutic outcomes. The authors suggested that this dual approach could offer a more comprehensive treatment for individuals suffering from trauma-related conditions.
Psychological Support
Acupuncture for trauma works best when combined with other therapeutic practices, especially the right psychological treatments. Healing from trauma isn’t just about easing physical symptoms but also about understanding and processing the deep emotional impact it leaves behind. So, working with licensed mental health professionals is crucial for people recovering from trauma.
The most widely used approaches in this area are cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), which helps to identify and change thought patterns that keep trauma alive, as well as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), among others. When combined with acupuncture, these treatments can create a strong foundation for long-term healing.
Additional Practices to Explore
Other supportive practices, such as mindfulness and meditation, can help process emotions and regain a sense of control. Massage, yoga, and other movement-based therapies can also be powerful tools for physical and emotional release. Together, all these approaches create a holistic path toward healing, helping you move forward one step at a time.
Benefits of a Holistic Treatment Plan
Working with a licensed and experienced acupuncture therapist like Dr. Mitra is crucial for receiving compassionate and personalized care tailored to meet your specific needs. Trauma is deeply complex and delicate, affecting each person differently, making it crucial to approach treatment with sensitivity. A personalized, well-rounded treatment plan that includes acupuncture can:
- Help reduce symptoms faster, in a natural way
- Provide deep emotional and physical healing
- Help create long-term resilience
- Help reduce medication reliance and more.
A skilled acupuncture practitioner understands that no two experiences are the same and will take the time to carefully assess your unique needs, ensuring a safe and effective approach. This is why Dr. Mitra collaborates closely with other specialists to provide a comprehensive treatment plan that integrates different therapeutic modalities, addressing both the mental and physical aspects of healing.
The right support fosters a supportive network that promotes overall well-being, ultimately leading to improved outcomes and a better quality of life.
A Holistic Approach to Healing & Reclaiming Peace
Healing from traumatic events isn’t easy, but your experiences don’t define you, and reclaiming your life is possible. Acupuncture for trauma is a gentle yet powerful way to help release stored emotions, calm the nervous system, and work on restoring balance and control.
At BH Acuhealth Clinic, Dr. Mitra has decades of experience in providing personalized acupuncture treatments to help patients heal from various issues with empathy and attention. If you’re ready to explore this natural and holistic approach, book a consultation today to see how it might support your journey to feeling better, inside and out.
