Hi again and welcome to another beautiful day of naturopathic medicine, depression and anxiety. And today, we're going to cover traditional Chinese medicine, TCM and acupuncture for depression and anxiety. I'm going to focus more on depression in this lecture, because there's a spillover of depression into anxiety and you'll see what I mean. So in traditional Chinese medicine for those who are not completely familiar with it, TCM considers disease as an imbalance an imbalance of either energy which is the call ci or an imbalance of blood in the entire system, namely in different organ systems, and organ systems could be the spleen system, kidney system, liver system, heart system lung system. And depending on what type of imbalance the person has TCM gives them a specific diagnosis related to the imbalance as well as to the organ system that's affected. For example, somebody might have deficiency of blood that's affecting the heart a lot.

So they will be diagnosed as having heart blood deficiency. And they don't only have to have one specific imbalance, heart blood deficiency could be mixed with a spleen g deficiency as well. So please keep that in mind as we're going through the different diagnosis of depression in terms of TCM. Okay, so the different imbalances include either an excess or deficient Since your stagnation of blood energy and interestingly enough in TCM depression is considered mainly due to the stagnation of energy in the liver and the diagnosis to be called liver Qi stagnation. Now, the liver is the master organ, so it affects every single organ out there, it affects your spleen and fix the heart. It affects the kidneys.

And so when somebody has liver Qi stagnation, that can also cause further imbalances of ci and blood in the other organ systems. So everyone with depression doesn't necessarily have Liberty stagnation, per se, they could have been g deficiency stemming from Liberty stagnation. And in TCM, we would use different herbs as well as acupuncture points to treat various diagnoses. In this lecture, we're going to cover many The acupuncture points. And I'll mention some homeopathic remedies along the way as well. Just to keep you active in your mind on how to combine different natural Pathak remedies during your treatments with someone.

I like using homeopathy in conjunction with TCM and acupuncture, because the patient can take the remedies home with them. And that gives them additional support, and basically speeds up the recovery, especially in very difficult cases where they cannot afford to come in very frequently for visits or the symptoms are so intense that they definitely need some palliative care, then homeopathy is definitely warranted while you're doing acupuncture. So, like I said, there's different diagnoses for depression and TCM. First one we start with is Liberty stagnation. I'm going to go through The details of all these, then we have phlegm and G stagnation. We have spleen Qi deficiency with phlegm and dampness with heart Yin deficiency with deficient spleen symptoms as well.

So there's a crossover between heart inefficiency and spleen Qi deficiency, and I'll explain what that means later. Then we have Yin deficiency with mt heat, liver, blood deficiency, lung deficiency, and kidney deficiency. In liver stagnation, liver Qi stagnation, will, the symptoms of depression would include general sense of depression? The patient may be sighing a lot. And since liver is connected to the emotion of anger, this person could get angry very easily, or be very irritable once in a while. Now a homeopathic remedy that comes to mind is Knoxville Mecca, a lot of irritability, anger and things like that related directly To the liver.

The witchy stagnation often has contributes to having headaches and digestive issues such as gas bloating and constipation. Again, I'm thinking Nussbaum again like a podium or to liver, homeopathic remedies. This type of depression has a lot of melancholy. And with Liberty stagnation menstruating women often may have painful menses or PMS symptoms, some clotting and breast tenderness. The acupuncture points commonly needle are the liver points such as liver three and liver two. I like using large interesting four because it opens up all the gates and harmonizes liver meridians as well.

Then we have liver 14 a front point front low point, urinary bladder 18 and stomach 36 as well as a very nice harmonizing point. It also dispels cheese or breaks up stagnation alone. The next diagnosis that TCM uses for depression is Flemming ci stagnation. Fleming ci stagnation. The symptoms may include some sadness, a lot of crying, worrying, worrying a lot, so that's thinking too much and a poor appetite so when there's a lot of phlegm and stagnation, you don't want to add more to your system. So there's a lack of appetite right?

And phlegm with the sadness and crying you think you have more the lung meridians a lot of lung, lung areas affected. The acupuncture points commonly used here are liver three, again because of the source of liberty stagnation, large intestine for urinary bladder 15, urine bladder, 18, urinary bladder 20, spleen six, spleen nine, stomach 36, stomach 40 and heart seven. So a lot of these points will break down phlegm harmonize the spleen move around so we're moving the stagnation around and we're dispelling phlegm a line. I like adding the heart seven point, especially in depression because the heart meridian is very connected to the mind. And so if you're not overdoing it whenever you can try and need a heart point with emotional issues. Now because of the sadness and crying, and thinking of remedies, homeopathic remedies such as magnesia are synonyms for worrying a lot, a lot of thinking, overthinking.

Pulsatilla, for a lot of sadness and crying as well, and nature muriatic them as well. And these remedies I've covered in the lecture on homeopathy, which you've probably listened to or you will listen to shortly. The other diagnosis is spleen g deficiency with phlegm and dampness. Yeah. So this type of depression the person would like Are we talking very little so kind of withdrawn? worrying excessively and then we have this feeling of a lump in their throat.

This typically happens with spleen g deficiency and phlegm because the spleen is deficient the fire the energy of the spleen is deficient. It cannot digest food well yeah digestion is compromised. So you'll often see loose or soft stools. And the acupuncture points out commonly use would be spleen nine, urinary bladder 20, stomach 36, stomach 40 and heart seven. Again, the urinary bladder points are connected to the spleen and then stomach 40. Again resolving dampness and also directly connected to the spleen as well.

And stomach 36 harmonizes. Ci mostly around, breaks down dampness and heart seven basically for the mind and depression. Heart Yin deficiency very common nowadays. So there's a bit of a crossover between heart Yin deficiency with a deficient spleen spleen Qi deficiency can contribute or lead up to heart Yin deficiency because the screens involved in making blood and building blood and building in and so when the screen cheese effective when it's deficient, then there's not enough blood or urine being produced. And that then affects the hearts in material hearts blood material. So again, similar symptoms.

In heart You're deficient in deficient spleen symptoms, talking very little worrying excessively feeling of a lump in the throat, looser, soft stools. And now because the heart is involved, we'll have other symptoms such as insomnia, palpitations, maybe feeling or not being loved or feeling of not Being lovable and the heart is connected to joy. So it could be sense a lack of joy and a sense of loneliness. The acupoint bunch of points of views here would be hard seven, unit bladder 15 can connect into the heart unit bladder 20, spleen six, spleen nine to 25, the spleen, stomach 36 of course to harmonize and move ci and some other heart points as necessary. In deficiency with empty so, when your essence goes down, when in depletes when, when Yin is used up a lot, then you'll have a relatively Yang excess. It's a false accent excess of Yang Yeah.

And that's what's called an empty heat. So if somebody is really burnt out, they worked hard for too long or gone through a lot of emotional stress then Our diagnoses are likely see in deficiency going on. So, in in deficiency, I often see more symptoms of anxiety with their depression. And in a burnt out state, the person is easily startled is a bit hyperactive, they might talk a lot is easily upset. So very volatile, fragile. Yeah.

And because there's not enough yen in the system, not enough yen or blood in the heart, you're also seeing symptoms of insomnia, and palpitations. So there's the emptiness, fragility. And here I'm thinking of also remedies such as Cali FOSS and phosphoric acid all these burnout remedies and easily startled remedies because of the inefficiency and the empty heat, they might be night sweats, feeling of being hot easily, and this is of course the thirstiness. The acupuncture points are commonly used to be urinary bladder, 15 liver three Great source point for the liver, unit bladder 2325 the kidneys there, and then some more kidney points such as kidney six kidney three, spleen six, of course you want to tonify the spleen to create more yen pericardium six pericardium six because of the insomnia palpitations, feeling of easily upset that also protects the heart. Then we have other points such as conception vessel for and heart seven.

Of course you can use other points that are more indicated to your patients individual issues I'm just give you a general group of points that you can go to while you build upon more specific treatment protocols. Liver blood deficiency, so when there's too much stagnation in the liver, as stagnation, something is stagnant, it's sitting there for too long it builds up and builds up and builds up heat and the heat then burns the Blood. Yeah, and liver stagnation of course affects the spleen, it invades the screen, and the screen is responsible for creating the blood. So when the liver invades the screen, you have less blood being produced, leading to leading back to the liver. Meaning causing more blood deficiency in the entire system and then the liver suffers with blood deficiency. So the symptoms of depression here are typically anxiety, lack of confidence.

And because there's not enough blood in the system, there's nothing to hold memory. So there's a lack of memory. Again, it could be insomnia or excessive dreaming, which disturbs the sleep and we liver blood deficiency I often see constipation and here now I'm thinking of remedies such as nuts, vodka, possibly even like a podium. With every blood deficiency, since the liver is the master organ and related to menstrual issues and hormonal balance, When we have liver blood deficiency, I'll often see scanty Menzies or a Maria. Now here I might consider a remedy such as CPR, and CPS great for depression, especially in people who are burnt out. Since there's a lack of blood, the tongue will likely be pale.

And other symptoms of liver blood deficiency include blurred vision, floaters, so those are black dots in their vision, possible headaches, muscle weakness, dry and brittle nails. Now your patient doesn't have to have all these symptoms in order to be diagnosed with liver blood deficiency. Some could mean anything. In terms of acupuncture points, we want to of course, treat the liver mainly. So that's liver three, liver eight is a great point liver 14 and stomach 36 great harmonizing point and spleen six again to build the blood kidney deficiency Now kidneys are organs directly related to fear in TCM. So I'm thinking trauma, or burnout and stress will damage your kidney essence.

Yeah. And so, the depression symptoms here the symptoms of depression will also include a lot of anxiety and panic attacks. These are more fear based symptoms, and that's typical of kidney deficiency. with anxiety and panic attacks, I'm considering remedies such as aconite, Arnica, ignatia, these are more remedies for trauma. When kidney deficiency gets very severe, the person could have suicidal tendencies. And here I'm thinking of my go to remedy is aurum Oram is not the only remedy for suicidal tendencies.

I find it reduces suicidal tendencies and thoughts quite quickly, which gives me time to find deeper remedies and also alleviates ameliorate the person's symptoms which can be quite disturbing especially when they're suicidal thoughts. with kidney deficiency, since it's the essence of a person, they will likely have weak knees, low back pain or cold limbs. And then we'll see symptoms such as apathy, low willpower, and a low libido. And here now I'm thinking of burnout remedies such as Cali, FOSS and phosphoric acid. Another thought that comes to mind is the kidney energy, the kidney essence, that's the essence of a person and essence is passed down from from your parents from ancestors. So, I'm thinking if the family the ancestors, previous generations have had a lot of trauma in their lives, then I believe that this sort of trauma would affect the essence of the offspring of the children.

So kidney deficiency, could be caused by a history of family traumas. And here I would also of course, consider adrenal building Herbes, and I use them A lot of family constellation therapy to help resolve from that trauma from previous generations. Family constellation therapy by Bert hellinger specifically. Now in terms of TCM, of course the acupuncture points we would use here are the kidney points such as kidney three, urinary bladder 23, stomach 36. That's the that's the walk three miles point. And then pericardium six of course with the anxiety and panic attacks, and heart seven for anxiety as well.

Lung stagnation or lung deficiency I see a crossover between these two diagnosis lung is related to grief and sadness and loss. So we can see lung stagnation lung deficiency, especially after a strong loss. loss of a loved one, even a divorce or even a business failure. And symptoms could include difficulty in letting go of the past withdrawal not connected to the present time so they're ruminating on the past a lot of rumination may be occurring. they're unable to fully express their grief so it's there's a stagnation of grief in their lungs and they cannot move on from past event. The acupuncture points out use your other lung points such as lung one, two and nine.

That's the one source point and then kidney three because kidney three roots the lungs Yeah, it helps move cheese from the top to the bottom of the body. Again, for the loss I would consider homeopathic remedies such as nature muriatic magnesia, or Oram depending on the symptoms that are arising from the loss. So enjoy putting all these remedies together all the acupuncture points, homeopathic remedies, adrenal hurts, etc. And please do let me know how it goes. Thank you.