The present and still worsening financial and economic crisis in the United States caused by the bankers’ bailout by the government have seen so many people see their family and themselves suffer.  Millions have lost homes, jobs and partners.  The economic and financial catastrophes certainly would entail many Americans to fall into depression or worse.  Right now, there are an estimated eight million depressed Americans and the numbers are rising rapidly.  The toll each year in health costs alone amount to $22 billion. With the US economy going in the direction it is going right now, this staggering amount further plunges the US economy downward, something it could ill afford to do anymore.

Depression is manifested through tiredness; malaise; lethargy; shallow breathing; lack of spirit or motivation; melancholia; crying spells; uncontrollable sobbing; sadness; withdrawal from social interaction; anxiety; insomnia or too much sleeping and meaninglessness.  Sometimes the depressed person tends to overeat, rapidly gaining weight and sometimes does not have the urge to eat at all.

Western society tries to cope with depression by psychotherapy and/or with pharmaceutical drugs.  The current epidemic of depression had seen the rise of sales in drugs such as Effexor, Wellbutrin, Zoloft and Paxil among others.  These drugs work by activating chemicals such as serotonin and norepinephrine to alleviate the symptoms. All of these drugs carry numerous and harmful side effects to the body.  They ought to be taken regularly in order to be effective.  A sudden stoppage of these medications usually makes the symptoms worse than ever.  Thus, we can see that pharmaceutical companies are not interested in curing depression but merely strive to relieve the symptoms in order for their drugs to be bought on a regular basis.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a holistic form of medicine.  This means that TCM does not only work to treat the physiological and emotional symptoms of the patient, it also aims to cure the root cause of the symptoms, which is depression itself.  Although the Chinese do not consider depression a sickness, it still charts a course of treatment that would help the patient come out of an extreme emotional state and into a normal and balanced state of mind.

Many depressed people sport liver energetic imbalances. In TCM, the liver governs the emotions of anger and frustration.  Prolonged feelings of these types of heightened emotions create energetic blockage or stagnation in the liver; this manifests as depression and is called liver chi stagnation.

Once liver chi is blocked, the other organs experiences chi deficiency, thereby causing more ailments to manifest.  Acupuncture Jacksonville and herbal therapy first, strive to remove this liver chi imbalance, second, take away the very negative emotions of the depressed individual and third, strengthen the body by restoring normal body functions.  Acupuncture is truly a very effective and safe way to treat depression.