Medical Acupuncture and the Management of Psychosomatic Illness

Abstract

Acupuncture is an intensive and holistic therapy that enhances the quality of life of psychosomatic patients. It helps to slow or reverse the process whereby anxiety, depression and other forms of psychological distress are transformed into physical symptomatology. This process, termed “somatisation”, is little understood in Western medicine, although it is implicated in many of the cases seen in general medical practice. Traditional Chinese medicine provides an explanation of how endogenous factors encompassing negative emotions and psychosocial stress can generate illness. This paper specifies acupuncture points and procedures to be used in managing general psychosomatic illness, as well as controlling the severe distress experienced by some psychosomatic patients.