Acupuncture Therapy
In accordance with The Orchid’s commitment to treat the entire person, body, mind and spirit, we offer acupuncture therapy to address the symptoms of withdrawal, anxiety, depression and stress.
Acupuncture is a practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine that has been successfully used for over 6,000 years to treat the body as a whole. According to TCM illnesses, symptoms and discomfort result from an underlying disharmony in energy flow. By inserting and manipulating needles into specific points on the body, acupuncturists believe that they can restore healthy energy flow in the patient’s body, resulting in a cure of the underlying condition and a disappearance of symptoms. In auricular therapy, a more recent development of the field, the acupuncturist applies needles or electrical stimulation solely to the earlobe.
From an original position of suspicion, Western science has grown to respect and embrace acupuncture and auricular therapy’s undeniable rates of success in treating a wide variety of conditions. One of the areas in which acupuncture has shown exceptional potency is the field of drug addiction, recovery and withdrawal management. Today, acupuncture treatment has proven its effectiveness sufficiently to be recommended by Drug Courts and managed care organizations as a preferred method of treating recovering addicts and alcoholics.
Though researchers have not fully unraveled the mechanisms by which acupuncture and auricular therapy work, it is clear that successful acupuncture treatments create changes in body proteins, such as naturally created opioids and hormones, that could decrease physical symptoms of addiction and withdrawal. What is clear that these treatments are effective. Since the 1970’s, over 9,000 studies have been conducted internationally testing the effectiveness of acupuncture in drug treatment. This literature reveals a number of positive results, particularly on acupuncture’s ability to decrease withdrawal discomfort for substances including alcohol, heroin, cocaine and nicotine.
Further Reading