Exploring the Advantages of Acupuncture for Addiction Treatment
When it comes to addiction recovery it’s all about healing. Healing the mind. Healing the body. While the concept of traditional therapy methods does a great job of healing the mind, caring for and healing the body is equally important.
Holistic therapies, such as acupuncture therapy, are a great way to spend time focusing on the body and mind in a natural way, without the use of any sort of medication or mind-altering substance. It can be a great way to get in tune with both the mind and the body and help it heal and recover from addiction. You might find it helpful to take a deeper look at acupuncture for addiction treatment and how it can help with the overall recovery process.
What Is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is considered a form of alternative medicine. It originated as part of Chinese Medicine and the ideology of acupuncture centers around the concept that we, as humans, have lines of energy running through our bodies. These lines are called meridians. When the discomfort of disease is present in the body, those who believe in acupuncture believe that these pains or diseases are the results of a blockage in the movement along the meridians.
Acupuncture is performed through the use of fine needles. These needles are used to hit certain pressure points as well as meridian lines in order to facilitate the free flow of energy throughout the body. When the right meridian line is stimulated, it relieves tension in the corresponding organ or muscle in the body. Each acupuncture point is mapped out on the body by name and serves a specific function. An acupuncturist knows which points to stimulate to get the desired effect.
For example, for those using acupuncture for addiction, the ears are a major point of focus on the body. The ears are used to not only help treat addiction but also help alleviate some of the pain and discomfort associated with early recovery symptoms. That is to say that, in the acupuncture world, the ears are attached to the lungs, kidneys, and liver. By stimulating the ears through the use of acupuncture, it can improve overall lung function, help with the removal of toxic buildup in the liver, and even help repair vital organs throughout the body.
What Are Some of the Biggest Benefits of Acupuncture?
As you can see above, acupuncture can be a great way to relieve pain, help cure disease, and even help with addiction recovery. Those aren’t the only benefits when it comes to acupuncture though. Some of the biggest benefits of acupuncture for addiction include:
- Reduce pain
- Improve sleep
- Reduce anxiety
- Reduce cravings
- Ease withdrawal
- Modulate emotions
While it is clear that acupuncture has many great benefits when it comes to addiction treatment, it only works if you put in the time and commitment. Like many other forms of holistic treatment, the effectiveness of acupuncture is based on the person’s commitment to it. If you take it seriously and commit yourself to the practice, then you will achieve your desired results.
Which Acupuncture Points Help With What Areas of the Body?
As we mentioned above, the concept of acupuncture revolves around the idea that each pressure point and meridian line controls certain muscles and organs throughout the body. Many lines and points even control multiple organs and muscles at the same time. So, what points and lines control which parts of the body? Well, there are five specific target areas when it comes to acupuncture for addiction. Those target areas are:
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- Lung Point – The lung point helps improve the overall function of the lung. It also helps alleviate the feeling of grief.
- Kidney Point – The kidney point helps with the repair of vital organs. It can also help relieve the feeling of fear.
- Autonomic Point – Also known as the sympathetic point, the autonomic point promotes relaxation in addition to helping soothe the nervous system.
- Liver Point – The liver point helps remove toxic buildup in the liver and blood. It can also help curb feelings of aggression.
- Shen Men – Also known as the “spirit gate”, the shen men helps decrease the feeling of anxiety.
About Acupuncture for Addiction Treatment
Due to how it works on the body when it comes to relieving pain in addition to changing a person’s mood, acupuncture can be vital to the recovery process from the first day of detox all the way through the recovery process and even during aftercare. Holistic therapies are designed to treat a person both physically and mentally. It addresses a person from a physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual perspective.
During the detox process, the body experiences a lot of uncomfortable feelings and emotions as a result of all the harmful substances leaving the body. A great way to help alleviate some of the symptoms associated with the detox process without the use of medication is through holistic treatment such as acupuncture.
Even during the rehab process, acupuncture can be a great way to complement the more traditional treatment methods such as one-on-one and group therapy, whether you are doing inpatient or outpatient treatment.
When your body becomes addicted to drugs and alcohol, the entire body becomes imbalanced. Addiction not only affects your mental balance and stability, but it affects you physically too.
Acupuncture helps address these issues by naturally producing dopamine. Dopamine is what makes your brain and body feel good when it is on drugs or alcohol, especially when it comes to opioids. By releasing these chemicals naturally through the body, it can help you with the management of physical and emotional pain and distress associated with the detox and withdrawal of drugs and alcohol. In addition, it’s a natural and non-medication way to increase the amount of dopamine in the body going forward, even after treatment has been completed.
About the Acupuncture Process
Before you can begin with the acupuncture process, the first step is to evaluate your current situation. This includes your medical history, the length of your addiction, the psychological aspects of it, and any physical health problems that may contribute to it.
Once that is complete, your acupuncture therapist will examine you and look out for any particular areas that need more attention than others. They will take a look at your tongue, check your pulse, and feel around to get a better idea of what needs to be worked on.
This is an important step in the process because, during this step, it is likely that your therapist will discover underlying health issues that you might not have even been aware of. Some of these undiscovered issues might have even helped in the creation of your addiction. This is especially true for those who developed an addiction to a prescribed medicine from a doctor such as a pain killer.
After you have undergone a full medical evaluation, the actual acupuncture treatment can begin. Along with the needle component of the acupuncture treatment, there also might be some massage and ointment components as well.
During the acupuncture treatment, the needles are slowly inserted into the body. The needles are typically kept in the skin for anywhere from five to 30 minutes. In some cases, the needles might be twirled, heated, or manipulated in other ways in order to increase their effectiveness. Once the treatment has been completed, the needles will be carefully removed and additional massage therapy may be performed. Some oil might also be applied to the body in the areas where the needles were.
Learn More About Treatment Options at Harmony Place
Acupuncture can be a great, natural way to alleviate some of the pain and discomfort associated with addiction as well as promote healing of the mind and body. As a result, acupuncture, as well as other forms of holistic treatment are being used more and more in conjunction with more traditional therapy to help treat addiction.
At Harmony Place, we are proud to offer holistic therapy at our treatment center, including acupuncture. If you or someone you know is suffering from addiction and can benefit from holistic therapies, such as acupuncture, call us today.
It is our goal to get every person that walks into our facility the help they need so they can go and live a happy, healthy, and sober life! Learn more about our treatment services today. We can’t wait to walk with you during this new chapter in your life!