What if you are the 33.3%?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating and crippling mental illness that has proven extremely difficult to treat using strictly conventional psychotherapy and pharmacological methods. Well-known symptoms include flashbacks, loss of interest in activities, violent outbursts and hyper-vigilance, but symptoms vary from person to person and also include dissociation, exaggerated startle response, sleep disturbances, reckless & self-destructive behaviour, avoidance, and changes in mood and memory. While recovery seems to be dependent upon early intervention, an estimated 1/3 of suffers never fully recover.1 

Post-traumatic stress disorder is known to affect certain populations more than others: refugees, aboriginals, first responders and women.2 While the reasons behind why the disorder is higher in women is unclear, it is likely due to the nature of the trauma. Women are more likely to experience PTSD as a result of sexual assault, whereas men are more likely to develop PTSD as a result of combat. 

I have had the privilege to work, throughout the span of my career as a CranioSacral Therapist, with many patients suffering from PTSD: veterans from all of the wars since WWII that North America has been involved with, survivors of sexual assaults, domestic violence, victims & witnesses of traumatic events & accidents. Each individual experiences trauma in their own personal way and yet the impact that it has upon their lives, and the lives of those around them, is undeniable. For that 1/3 of the population who never fully recover, having post-traumatic stress disorder isn’t something they can just “get over”. It weaves itself into the fabric of daily living and decides to stay.

In the allopathic medical community the primary treatment of PTSD is trauma-centred psychotherapy and medication; typically serotonin reuptake inhibitors or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. Coupled with a high drop-out rate and numerous side-effects of the medication, few patients continue with this treatment and the number of patients who turn to self-medicating with alcohol and drugs is large. Other options for treatment include: prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy, eye movement desensitization & reprocessing, imagery rehearsal, brief psychodynamic therapy and hypnosis, in combination with different anti-depressants and sleeping pills. Family counselling is also recommended to help the family cope with the impact that PTSD has on their lives.

But where do you go if these treatments don’t help? 

This is the question I had in mind when I set out to research alternatives to mainstream treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder. Where do you go when you are the 33.3%? Are you slated to spend the rest of your life, frozen in some moments, over-reactive in others, stuck in a constant rollercoaster ride of fight or flight? There has to be something more. 

And it turns out there is, and it’s called Acupuncture. 

Acupuncture

Acupuncture has its foundations within ancient Chinese practices, with some estimations of its existence being recorded as early as 100,000 years ago.³ It is a practice of balancing the body’s energy, or Chi, in an effort to support health and wellness, and the prevention and treatment of disease. Chi is thought to run through the body by the way of meridians and each meridian is linked to the traditional Chinese version of an organ. Each organ corresponds to a season, an element, emotions, and specific senses, and each meridian has several points along its channel that have a specific action upon that organ. The movement of energy, or Chi, between these meridians is continuous. Disease is thought to occur when the flow and quality of Chi becomes deranged, resulting in an imbalance between Yin and Yang, or the two energies that hold nature in balance. 

Acupuncture is traditionally performed by detecting which acupuncture points need to be needled, in an effort to promote the smooth flow of Chi and restore health. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways and may include tongue and pulse diagnosis, general observation and a thorough case history. While the functions of the acupuncture points are diverse and specific to the particular organ associated with that channel, they also exhibit an overall effect on Chi throughout the body. These points may be more sedating or more stimulating. The manner in which needles are inserted into these points, the reasons behind why they are selected, and stimulation, post-insertion, all affect how Chi will respond. 

The mechanism of action behind acupuncture is not completely understood. There are several theories, including beta-endorphin release, calcium ion involvement, opioid peptide and other neural signalling involvement, but as it stands the mechanism is still unknown.4 That being said, acupuncture has often proven itself to be more than a placebo effect in many randomized control trials, has a history of successful use spanning thousands of years, and is a generally accepted practice within the medical and non-medical field. And according to the research out there, it works as a treatment for classical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, it works just as well as cognitive behavioural therapy in reducing the intensity and frequency of flashbacks, insomnia, hypervigilance, mood & memory disturbances, etc. While there are some limitations to the research studies and more studies need to be done before I would suggest it as a treatment on its own, the research that is out there makes a strong case for using it in combination with cognitive behavioural therapy and medication. The beauty of this treatment combination is that  Naturopaths are trained in both cognitive behavioural therapy and acupuncture, which means that the therapies can be performed simultaneously, saving time and money.

So if you’re struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, or if you’re unfortunate enough to be a part of the “33.3% club” consider adding acupuncture into your treatment plan. The benefits could be life changing. I know they were for me. 

If you wish to read the entire review paper on acupuncture and ptsd, please contact me.

All My Relations,

Mandy

References:

1. Medscape 

2. Canadian Mental Health Association.[Internet]. British Columbia. 2012 [cited October
2015]. Available  from: https://www.cmha.bc.ca/get-informed/mental-health-information/
ptsd 

3. Xinnong C, editor. Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion. Beijing China. Foreign
Languages Press. 2010.

4. Yang ES, Li P-W, Nilius B, Li G. Ancient Chinese medicine and mechanistic evidence of
acupuncture physiology. Pflugers Archiv. 2011;462(5):645-653.