Naturopathic Medicine can help with Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the more common complaints that I see clinically, the underlying cause of anxiety can be from a myriad of sources; biochemical or genetic predisposition, long term or acute life stressors, relationship stress, physical illness, insomnia, poor diet, hormonal imbalances, etc. It becomes the job of the naturopathic doctor to uncover the underlying cause of a person’s anxiety, while simultaneously treating the current symptoms to bring balance to the patient’s life experience. Fortunately anxiety is a complaint that typically responds well to naturopathic therapeutics; on their own, as well as in conjunction with pharmaceutical approaches.

I love to combine our gentle effective medicines and modalities with mindfulness based practices. Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises and cognitive behavioral therapy are all effective ways to teach the practice of letting go and letting be. Many people with anxiety disorders have never learned how to effectively help themselves through periods of intense stress and anxiety, the aforementioned mindfulness techniques are invaluable to learn, or re-learn internal coping strategies.

There are many herbal medicines in several different classes that we consider when a patient presents with anxiety. Some of these herbs work similarly to benzodiazepines, causing mild sedation as they modulate the GABA receptors in the brain; valerian and passionflower are examples of sedative herbs. Others are even more gentle in their sedative effects, but are helpful in calming and settling the mind, we call these  herbs nerviness; lemon balm and chamomile are examples of nervines. Other herbals help to support the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands help to stabilize stress response, blood sugar and reproductive hormones, this class of herbs are called adaptogens; rhodiola and ashwaghanda are examples of adaptogen herbs that help us to recover from long periods of physical or emotional stress.

Acupuncture is another fantastic tool to use for acute or chronic anxiety states, oftentimes people experiencing anxiety need support in their heart and pericardium  channels’ to soothe mental and spiritual agitation, improve sleep and restore calm. It is also helpful to stimulate the kidney energies to assuage fears and restore physical and mental energy. The beauty of acupuncture is the ability to customize each individual’s treatment protocol, and easily make minor adjustments to the protocol with each visit based on symptom feedback, as well as traditional Chinese medicine tongue and pulse readings.

Nutrition and nutriceutical supplementation are the back bone of many naturopathic treatment protocols. “Clean” protein with every meal ensures the presence of amino acid building blocks used by our body to make neurotransmitters like serotonin, gaba, and dopamine.  Protein if often swapped out of breakfast in exchange for a caffeinated beverage, in the long run this nutritional bargain may be more anxiety promoting than our original plan of getting “extra energy” from a coffee or tea. Eating meals at regular times is important for our mental health and feeling of well being by keeping our blood sugar levels more stable throughout the day. There are many nutritional supplements that help people manage their anxiety, b vitamins, theanine, gaba, and inositol have become favorite supportive additions to my treatment protocols over the years.

If you are not certain if the symptoms that  you are experiencing are related to anxiety, bring it up at your next visit with your ND, we will certainly work with you to help you to get a better understanding of your symptom presentation.