Turning Point Acupuncture Newsletter
Emergency Email Newsletter
Vol. 2 Number 3
Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Patients,
Post Traumatic Stress - The Perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine
When I conceived Turning Point Acupuncture with its slogan "Acupuncture for Urbanites", I never
could have imagined that urban living would include coping with terrorism in our midst. I love New
York City and have never wanted to live anywhere else. Even before this horrific event, we needed to
have ritualized ways of taking care of ourselves on a daily basis to joyfully live in this big, beautiful
melting pot of the world's finest and most disparate elements.
All of us are reeling from the events of September 11th and the terrorist attacks. In the aftermath we
find ourselves challenged on the emotional, physical and spiritual levels. We are trying to deal with
our feelings, our fear, grief, rage and powerlessness. We have nightmares. We feel tired, nauseous,
and achy. We find our belief in a Higher Power questioned. How can we deal with this enormous
trauma?
Looking at this from a Chinese Medicine perspective can be helpful and will lend itself to the
practical suggestions at the end of this newsletter. What follows is a very gross simplification of
thousands of years of sophisticated Chinese Medicine thought on the impact of emotional trauma on
our life force energy (Qi). A trauma of any kind causes a shock wave to our Qi that results in an
imbalance or blockage of Qi. This Qi disturbance can manifest on any level.
All the emotions are associated with an internal organ function in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
(None of these organs have the same meaning as they do in Western Medicine and will be capitalized
to emphasis this.)
Fear is associated with the Kidney.
Anger with the Liver.
Grief with the Lung.
Joy with the Heart.
Processing with the Spleen
One example of how symptoms might manifest when our Qi is disturbed is insomnia. In Chinese
Medicine there are two different kinds of sleep disturbance:
Inability to fall asleep: Liver related -as when we are too worked up to relax into sleep.
Interrupted sleep: Heart related - as when we are "broken-hearted" and are awakened by those
feelings.
Different acupuncture points and herbs would be selected to treat each kind.
When our Qi is out of balance we feel disoriented, weak and uncentered. Our grief, expressed
through the Lungs, comes as tears. Unexpressed we have headache, coughing, asthma, fatigue and
sinus symptoms. Our anger can give us headache, or fever blisters and insomnia. If the rage is turned
inward we are depressed. We have trouble falling asleep.
When we are heart-broken our Heart is affected. The Chinese believe that our Spirit (or "Shen")
resides in our Heart and must rest comfortably. When we are emotionally distressed, our Shen is
disturbed and flutters in our chest resulting in palpitations, interrupted sleep, daytime agitation and
night terrors.
Here are some suggestions of steps we can take to find balance in this difficult time:
1. Acupressure
Please see the illustrations attached to this email or check on the website:
http://www.nycacupuncture.com/trauma.html
Acupressure Technique:
Simply apply gentle pressure on the point with the thumb. Hold until effective, usually within five
minutes. In the examples below, you can use pressure on either the right or left hand, wrist or foot
or alternate. If you are uncertain as to whether you are on the point, it will usually be sore to the
touch when you find it.
Points:
Large intestine 4: good for the Lungs, reduces anxiety, shortness of breath, sinus headache
Point Location:
This point is found in the web between the thumb and first fingers - at the end of the crease when the
hand is closed.
Pericardium 6: good for Heart, anxiety, palpitations, interrupted sleep, nausea
Point Location:
This point is three of the person's finger widths above the crease of the inner wrist. It lies directly
between the two tendons felt here.
The popular "sea bands" that can be purchased in Health Food stores for sea sickness can be used on
this point.
Liver 3: good for the Liver, anger, frustration, depression, headache, trouble falling asleep
Point Location:
This point is found in the web between the big toe and the second toe between the metatarsal bones
approximately one thumb width up towards the ankle (analogous to large intestine 4 on the hand).
2. Herbal Medicine
Teas
:
Peppermint and chamomile teas, so readily available, have been used for centuries to calm nerves
and settle stomachs.
Chinese Herbal remedies:
Many of you may have one or more of these remedies at home already. All of the remedies listed
below will be available at reduced cost for the next several weeks.
Shen Gem: a general tonic for people under stress. Particularly addresses Heart
Shen issues.
Ease Plus: for the Liver -great for emotional disturbances with anger and digestive symptoms.
Schizandra Dreams: for interrupted sleep (has Kava-Kava in it)
3. Other suggestions for home
Exercise
Meditation
Prayer
Community Service
4. Acupuncture
In addition to home remedies, times of great stress are times when acupuncture can be very helpful
in restoring balance and a feeling of being centered and grounded. During this crisis I have wished I
could go out with a bag of needles and just give a treatments to the stressed out people in the streets.
Someday, in a less litigious world, that may be possible. We will have our usual extended hours next
week at Turning Point Acupuncture to accommodate our patients in need.
5. Peace
Finally I want to wish that we resist the temptation to fight violence with violence. Chinese Medicine
is all about balance. We can never restore world order if we all move in a yang mode. We must seek
new ways to reach understanding and healing.
To urge President Bush to exercise restraint in escalating the violence
further you can send him an email by going to:
http://www.actforchange.com
Pray for Peace,
Naomi
14 September 2001
copyright 2001 Naomi Rabinowitz and Shane Hoffman
Back to Top