Depression Got You Down? Holistic Integrative Medicine Offers Help
Jiang, a 63 year-old Korean woman, entered a Korean hospital with a flushed complexion. She had just woken up from a 30-minute-long slumber. After trying to get back to sleep, Jiang felt like she was on the ground and gasping for air. Other symptoms she was experiencing included fatigue. depression, restless heartbeat, headache, choking sensation in her chest, irritability, sensitivity to heat, and indigestion.
Her nerves were so sensitive that she could feel the vibrations of flying mosquitoes. Her sensitivities were such that if she so much as thought of a bathroom, she would develop symptoms of bladder inflammation such as the frequent and urgent need to urinate.
As a result of these symptoms, Jiang was hospitalized for depression and panic disorder for two years and received Western medicine treatment. However, instead of getting better, she began to suffer from insomnia and trance. She then turned to the DongGuTong Oriental Medical Clinic in South Korea.
The hospital treated Jiang with acupuncture combined with oral herbal medicine based on the prescription Xiexin Decoction—with main ingredients including rhubarb, Coptis, and Scutellaria.
A week later, Jiang’s diseases, including insomnia, depression, indigestion, facial flushing, and cystitis, were all relieved. A month and a half later, her depression and panic disorder had improved significantly. Most of her symptoms were greatly relieved.
She could go out again and engage in normal social activities—her life improved dramatically. The sleeping pills she had been taking for a long time had been discontinued, though her nerves were still sensitive, and her bladder infection still occasionally flared up.
The number of people suffering from depression like Jiang is increasing worldwide, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dramatically increased the global prevalence of depression. In the first year of the pandemic alone, global rates of anxiety and depression increased by a whopping 25 percent, according to the World Health Organization.
South Korea Acupuncture Injection Therapy refers to injecting herbal liquid into acupoints with a syringe, achieving both acupuncture and herbal effects, Kang Ji Seok, president of Tongbotang Korean Hospital, told The Epoch Times on February 8.
South Korea Acupuncture Injection Therapy uses herbal preparations made according to the standard of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of the South Korean government and is widely used by Korean physicians.
Seok explained that for chronic diseases, he adopts a combination of acupuncture with compound herbs, whose combined effect is faster and more lasting. If acupuncture is used alone, it takes longer for the same effect to occur.
He also stressed that in treating mood disorders such as depression, doctors should pay close attention to communicating with their patients—listen to the causes of their depression and troubles, and persuade them to let go of their desires for fame, wealth, and affection, which is also helpful for the treatment of mood disorders.
Depression is a common mental disorder and can lead to suicide. It is the leading cause of disability worldwide and a major contributor to the total global burden of disease.
Modern medicine usually treats depression with medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of both. However, between 19 and 34 percent of people with depression do not improve with medication or therapy. The health risks of side effects and physical dependence associated with antidepressant medications also call for better treatment.
Acupuncture and herbs are the two main methods of treating diseases in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as well as in Korean medicine, which is mainly derived from TCM. The two methods can be used alone or in combination.
With a long history of treating depression, these two types of treatments (acupuncture and herbs) are called holistic integrative medicine (HIM) or complementary or alternative therapies in western medicine. Modern evidence of the effectiveness and safety of HIM continues to emerge, and it is thus used in conjunction with conventional medicine.
As Korean medicine (TCM) comes from Taoism, its health preservation theory is deeply influenced by Taoism. In the Taoist classic “Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor,” the author emphasized that to maintain health, one needs to lose the desire for fame, wealth, sensuality, and so on.
Acupuncture and herbs have been shown to help treat depression in a number of studies.
Hugh MacPherson, a professor of acupuncture studies in the UK, worked with a team of scientists from the UK and the United States to study 755 people with depression in the north of England. The study results showed that acupuncture significantly reduced the severity of depression, with most benefits lasting up to 12 months after treatment, and that acupuncture is statistically significantly better than conventional treatment. The research was published in the Journals Library of the National Institute for Health and Care Research in 2017.
A 2020 study of 57 pregnant women with depression, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, showed that acupuncture reduced prenatal depression, stress, and distress with high drug tolerance and few adverse events.
A National Center for Biotechnology Information study in 2015 showed that single herbs such as ginseng, white peony root, Rhodiola rosea, and radix bupleuri, as well as herbal formula Yueju Pill, which consists of various herbs such as rhizoma cyperi and ligusticum wallichii, and herbal formula Xiaoyao Soup, which consists of various herbs such as radix bupleurui and angelica sinensis, were effective against depression.
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