Acupuncture Health Insights » Mental Health

Ten Ways Less Stress Can Improve Your Health

Lynn Jaffee — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:48:18 +0000

We all live with some amount of stress. In fact, a little stress keeps life interesting, keeps you on your toes, and can be an agent for change. It’s when stress overshadows everything in your life, that it becomes a problem. Unrelenting stress can impact your health in countless negative ways, from insomnia to poor digestion.

In Chinese medicine, stress almost always is described as a disharmony between the Liver and Spleen organ systems. Very simply, your Chinese Liver system is responsible for regulating . . . → Read More: Ten Ways Less Stress Can Improve Your Health

Depression, Bupleurum, and Your Chinese Liver

Lynn Jaffee — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:38:31 +0000

In my acupuncture practice, I see a number of people who struggle with emotional symptoms, such as stress, depression, anxiety, or irritability. Jolene* is one of those people. She works long hours at her sales job, takes care of unappreciative ailing parents, and struggles to make ends meet. Essentially, her life is not going how she would like, and it makes her depressed and irritable.

Jolene comes in for acupuncture every couple of weeks, and she feels better for a while. However, the circumstances . . . → Read More: Depression, Bupleurum, and Your Chinese Liver

Stress and Anxiety in the Workplace

Lynn Jaffee — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:52:20 +0000

Lately I’ve been seeing a disturbing trend among my patients. More and more are seeking acupuncture for health issues due to stress and anxiety related to their jobs. A few examples:

Joe* has a job he loves, but is anxious about his performance and afraid of being in the next round of layoffs. Every Sunday night and Monday morning, Joe is physically sick from the stress. He has heart palpitations, a tight chest, nausea, and numbness and tingling in his arms and hands.

Carrie . . . → Read More: Stress and Anxiety in the Workplace

Why Acupuncture Works for Stress

Lynn Jaffee — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:36:49 +0000

Jessica is a self-described desk monkey who works in a cubicle farm. Her job is boring, but it pays well. Jessica has to put up with a really annoying co-worker and a very demanding boss who doesn’t appreciate her talent or hard work. She’s been looking for another job, but in this economy, Jessica isn’t optimistic about finding her dream position, so she plugs away at a job she can barely tolerate.

Meg is an elementary school teacher. She’s been a single mom for . . . → Read More: Why Acupuncture Works for Stress

The Body and Mind Connection

Lynn Jaffee — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:12:53 +0000

For the past three decades, I’ve been a runner. I admit that I run a little slower and a little less than I did thirty years ago, but I still slog along the roads or trails a couple of times a week. Before I picked up the running habit, I was pretty sedentary, and while I wasn’t exactly a couch spud, regular exercise wasn’t something I ever thought much about. In fact, my health wasn’t something I ever thought much about, either.

Shortly after . . . → Read More: The Body and Mind Connection

Healing Depression with Chinese Medicine

Lynn Jaffee — Mon, 09 May 2011 09:11:05 +0000

Not all depression is created equal. In fact, I’ve found that no two people describe their depressive symptoms in exactly the same way. Dr. Henry Emmons, author of The Chemistry of Joy describes three types of depression that people may experience; anxious, agitated, and sluggish. From my experience, I would also add another, which I call sadness depression.

In Chinese medicine, there are some very distinctive causes behind the different ways depression is manifested. Generally, depression is associated with some element of Liver stagnation. . . . → Read More: Healing Depression with Chinese Medicine

The Nature of Clutter in Chinese Medicine

Lynn Jaffee — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:14:09 +0000

Clutter! It’s unsightly, messy, and chaotic. It makes you feel unsettled or downright anxious when you walk into an area full of…stuff. It seems that in our unending drive as consumers to acquire more things, clutter is becoming more of a problem. In fact, there’s a TV show about clutter to the max in the form of trash houses, called Hoarders.

People over-accumulate things for a couple of reasons. One reason is to hold onto the past. If your basement is full of record . . . → Read More: The Nature of Clutter in Chinese Medicine

Gratitude, Depression, and Chinese Medicine

Lynn Jaffee — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 09:28:12 +0000

Several years ago, Carl came to my clinic because he wanted to try acupuncture for depression. Carl, a fiftyish businessman, felt that his life was a disaster and that the negative circumstances of his existence were the source of his depression. Carl hated his job, had difficulty with his co-workers, was single, had few friends, and felt that even his dog was a loser. During the time that I was seeing him, Carl bought a home, in which he was unhappy in a neighborhood that he disliked. There . . . → Read More: Gratitude, Depression, and Chinese Medicine

Politics, Anger, and Liver Stagnation

Lynn Jaffee — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:13:54 +0000

The election is over, and apparently the voters have spoken. According to the media, they’ve expressed their outrage at the way things are going. Really? Outrage?

When I hear statements in the press or on TV about the anger of the American voters, I immediately think, “There are a lot of people out there with some serious Liver stagnation.” As always my mission is to put things into the context of Chinese medicine, and I love explaining the theory behind rage, anger, and outrage. . . . → Read More: Politics, Anger, and Liver Stagnation

Three Surprising Sources of Stress

Lynn Jaffee — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:16:22 +0000

Stress is a natural part of your life. You know when your stress levels are maxing out when you feel overwhelmed, you have deadlines looming, your mind starts racing, you don’t sleep very well, and your digestion is in an uproar. Generally, your stress is psychological in nature, in that the stress itself usually isn’t life-threatening, but how you react to the events going on sometimes feels pretty serious. We tend to think of stress as something that occupies your mind, and only when the . . . → Read More: Three Surprising Sources of Stress