Most people will experience some degrees of anxiety because it is a normal response to stress and worry. When it persists daily for a prolonged period of time causing a variety of symptoms including social isolation, worry, tension, irritability, fatigue, muscular discomfort, sleep disturbances, restlessness, extreme anxiety, palpitations, and heightened sensitivity to stimuli, then our goal is to restore balance and harmony.  In Chinese medicine, anxiety is mostly associated with the imbalance of the Heart and Shen(spirit), and to some extent the Liver and Kidneys. The symptoms, pulse and tongue diagnosis help to determine the patterns of disharmony. The varied goals and treatment principles are to calm the Spirit, nourish the heart, tonify the Yin, strengthen the blood and improve digestion. Gentle acupuncture techniques and calming acupuncture points are applied to improve the patterns of disharmony. Herbal concoctions can be helpful. 

Our clinical experience with our patients is to consider the wellness of one’s emotional body. Deirdra Claiborne personally likes to add calming points to most of her treatments since millions of Americans grapple with a generalized anxiety disorder. Most of her patients who are new to acupuncture are surprised how deeply relaxed they feel after each acupuncture session. Some of her patients receive acupuncture to achieve this deep sense of calmness and wellness. This state of being in Deirdra’s opinion is the ultimate place of healing.