After Shock: How TCM Can Treat PTSD

PTSD Awareness Month – June 2020

Intense shock can lead to long-term mental illness. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex and debilitating condition. June marks PTSD Awareness Month – learn more about how you can support patients living with this complex psychological disorder. 

What is PTSD?

Since antiquity, it has been understood that intense shock can be linked to long-term illness. As early as 490 BC, the Greek philosopher Herodotus described how an Athenian warrior went permanently blind after witnessing the killing of a soldier standing next to him. In more recent years, soldiers returning from WWI and II were described as “Shell Shocked” – meaning that they acted detached and were volatile and unhappy. They often remained like this for years after the end of the war. These soldiers were clearly living with PTSD long before it was officially recognised by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980.

PTSD is a complex psychological disorder resulting from experiencing a traumatic event either directly or indirectly: A victim of abuse could develop PTSD as a direct result of the abuse they suffered. Equally, a juror at an abuse trial could develop it indirectly after hearing about the abuse in great detail. PTSD can also result from experiencing a series of negative situations or unhappy emotions for a prolonged period. It remains to be seen whether our Post Covid-19 clinics will see an upsurge in cases of PTSD triggered by the ongoing long-term experience of loneliness and anxiety suffered by so many.

In late February 2020, The Lancet published a review of 24 studies documenting the psychological impact of quarantine. The findings offer a glimpse of what is brewing in hundreds of millions of households worldwide and what we as clinicians need to be prepared to treat.

People diagnosed with PTSD describe disturbing thoughts and intensely upsetting feelings related to their traumatic experiences. These may be experienced long after the traumatic event has ended and can be relived as vivid flashbacks. The US military demands for PTSD services for its veterans are at unprecedented levels and are climbing yearly. Many people with PTSD are unable to work for long periods of time and this has an impact on both them and also their families.

Acupuncture can help with PTSD.

A recent small-scale study into the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment on ex-service people living with PTSD demonstrated highly significant reductions in both symptoms of PTSD and symptoms of anxiety and depression. 90% of the veterans observed before treatment displayed severe symptoms that they were classified as having PTSD, but not one of the same group was classified as having PTSD following six weeks of treatment.

Find out how you can support patients with PTSD in your clinic:

• Traumatic Stress: Management of physical and psychological trauma with acupuncture by Dr Hamid Montakab

Treat the Shen and transform emotions by Dr Bartosz Chmielnicki