Approximately 38 million Americans suffer with chronic anxiety or depression. One out of eight adults are currently taking antidepressant medications. While these medications can offer support and benefit on certain occasions, there are indeed many people that do not respond well to this form of treatment. This can be due to a number of factors including:

• • Various side effects that outweigh the benefits of the medication
  • A developed tolerance to the medication that causes the benefits to diminish
  • Excessive sensitivity to the concentrated nature of these medications
  • A belief system that suggests that the anxiety is not due to a biochemical imbalance, or that this imbalance is the result of a deeper spiritual issue

In our clinical practice, we have worked with a number of patients who were convinced that they had run out of options after finding medications and/or talk therapy to be ineffective for their needs. Many of these people try acupuncture as a last resort. Based on the experience we have had in working with numerous anxiety ridden patients, we now firmly believe that Chinese medicine, nutritional supplemenation, meditation, and yoga or qi gong can offer tremendously helpful support in healing the root causes of this epidemic. This approach is much more comprehensive and much less invasive to the brain that using medications. It accounts for not only biochemical factors, but also energetic, nutritional, and spiritual influences as well.