Does Acupuncture Work For Anxiety?

Article Written By: Dr. Kristen Burris, DAcCHM Dual doctorate Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture with a Specialization in Chinese Herbal Medicine

Does the thought of acupuncture give you anxiety? The fear of needles is the number one reason people don’t seek out acupuncture for their health concerns and yet most of our patients end up sleeping under a calm and exceptionally relaxed state on our tables. At Eagle Acupuncture we are trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine.  Acupuncture is only one modality of many that we use to heal patients. We also use Functional Medicine, or integrative lab tests to evaluate hormones, bowels, and other lab work to assess why a person is feeling sick or struggling with a chronic illness. We then utilize those lab results and address the problems naturally through herbal medicine, supplements and lifestyle changes. However, acupuncture has been studied extensively in it’s effective approach to all types of anxiety in women, men and even in children and teenagers. 

Anxiety has become an increasingly difficult mental health problem. According to National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) almost one in five people suffer from anxiety topping out at 19.1% of the population in the U.S. Women are more likely to suffer from anxiety (23.4% vs. 14.3%). According to Psychiatry.org, in 2024, 43% of adults admit they felt more anxious than they did the previous year, up from 37%. That is a lot of people suffering from anxiety in the U.S. Women also are at a high risk of being misdiagnosed as having anxiety when in reality they are suffering from another illness like infection, imbalanced hormones, auto-immune condition, Lyme disease, mold infection or other illnesses. 

Traditional Chinese Medicine is extraordinarily good at treating anxiety using both acupuncture and well-balanced herbal medicine to soothe a restless mind. Acupuncturists and Herbalists are trained to get to the root cause of an illness or symptom by assessing one’s pattern presented that related to their disorder or disease. Not every person is prescribed the same herbal medicine for anxiety. For instance, a postpartum woman, who is breast feeding, is exhausted, lost a lot of blood in delivery, has a pale face, a light period and heart palpitations will have a very different herbal formula and acupuncture points prescription compared to another woman who presents differently. That woman would be diagnosed with Heart and Liver Blood not nourishing their spirit. 

Whereas a woman who wakes often with a racing heart, sweats easily, startles easily, gets cold frequently, has low back pain and gets cold, cramps with her period and shows a surge in anxiety right before her period would be diagnosed with Heart Energy (Qi) Deficiency with Kidney Energy (Yang) Deficiency. One woman needs to build blood back to restore her mental tranquility and the other woman needs warming herbal medicine to restore her restless nature back to calm.

There are several other differentiating patterns that are common, and a skilled acupuncturist and herbal medicine doctor can differentiate all the patterns. This is why you won’t find skilled doctors sharing what herbal formulas to take for anxiety because if you choose wrong, you can exacerbate her condition. 

Acupuncture points also need to be tailored to the patient. Commonly used acupuncture points for anxiety include: 

Acupuncture Point for Anxiety Heart 5:  Calms the spirit or mood, Regulates Heart Rhythm, Benefits the Tongue and Activates the Channel and Alleviates Pain. This point is particularly great for the patient who starts speaking quickly when nervous or anxious and may have a bit of chest pain or pressure when anxiety strikes.

Acupuncture Point for Anxiety Heart 6: Regulates Heart Blood, Calms the Spirit or Mood, Moderates Acute Conditions, Clears Night Sweating. This acupuncture point is excellent for the woman who noticed a marked uptick in her anxiety when she entered menopause or after a post-partum period. She often will have night sweating as part of her hormonal imbalance picture.

Acupuncture Point for Anxiety Heart 7: Calms the Mood or Spirit, Regulates and Strengthens the Heart. This acupuncture point is preferred for person who wake from fright or has insomnia accompanying their anxiety attacks. 

Acupuncture Point for Anxiety Heart 8: Clears Heat from the Heart, Calms the Spirit, Regulates the Heart, Activates the Channel and Alleviates Pain. This acupuncture point helps the patient who experiences fear, sadness, worry, chest pain, and a feeling of something stuck in their throat when their anxiety is at it’s worst. 

Acupuncture Point for Anxiety Gallbladder 39: Activates the Channel and Alleviates Pain, Benefits Sinews, Bones, and Neck.  This point is particularly useful for mania, inability to calm down and bi-polar type anxiety especially if the person experiences fullness in the abdomen, distention in the chest or heart area with a lot of sighing, indignation, anger with their anxiety.

Acupuncture Point for Anxiety Bladder 15 (the Back Point for the Heart): Tonifies and Nourishes the Heart, Regulates Heart Energy, Calms the Spirit, Unbinds the Chest and Blood Stasis, Clears Heart Fire. This acupuncture point is useful for anxiety with disturbed dreams, restlessness, disorientation, manic-depressive behavior, chest oppression, excessive worry, insomnia and even fright palpitations where one feels their heartbeat strongly. 

In the journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice found that acupuncture was an effective therapeutic treatment for anxiety.  Overall, there is excellent scientific evidence proving acupuncture therapy treats anxiety disorders as it provides effective outcomes, with much fewer side-effects than conventional medical interventions and treatment (Amorim et al, 2018) Additionally, published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine found in analyzing ten studies that all of them found acupuncture was an effective treatment for anxiety (Li et al, 2019). 

Acupuncture can be used alone or in conjunction with other therapies including talk therapy, EMDR, trauma work, massage therapy, cranial sacral therapy and even drug therapy. Acupuncture can be helpful for patients wanting to go off anti-anxiety medications due to difficult side-effects including but not limited to: weight gain, memory loss, debilitating drowsiness, unrelenting fatigue, dry mouth often leading to bad breath and dental problems, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, lightheadedness, increase heartrate, increase blood pressure, headaches, migraines, confusion, disorientation, sexual dysfunction including decreased libido, impotency and inability to experience pleasure or orgasm.  Other concerning side-effects to anti-anxiety medications include suicidal tendencies or thoughts, seizures, allergic reactions and liver damage. 

Acupuncture is incredibly safe, relaxing and effective for anxiety treatment and long-term management. Talk to your acupuncturist about treatment today. Our doctor in herbal medicine on prescribes Traditional Chinese Herbal medicine that is manufactured, processed and tested in the United States of America. Don’t know a doctor of  herbal medicine in your area you can trust? We offer telemedicine coaching for Traditional Chinese Medicine and work with patient all throughout the U.S. Just reach out for an appointment to reduce your anxiety and get your life and thoughts back in control (208)938-1277. 

Amorim D, Amado J, Brito I, Fiuza SM, Amorim N, Costeira C, Machado J. Acupuncture and electroacupuncture for anxiety disorders: A systematic review of the clinical research. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2018 May;31:31-37. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.01.008. Epub 2018 Jan 31. PMID: 29705474.

Li M, Xing X, Yao L, Li X, He W, Wang M, Li H, Wang X, Xun Y, Yan P, Lu Z, Zhou B, Yang X, Yang K. Acupuncture for treatment of anxiety, an overview of systematic reviews. Complement Ther Med. 2019 Apr;43:247-252. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2019.02.013. Epub 2019 Feb 16. PMID: 30935538.