Good morning Readers,

Today we are going to talk a little about emotional trauma. After 2 years going through a Covid 19 pandemic and currently following a moment of war in Europe, certainly talking about emotional trauma is really relevant.

Let’s start by defining what emotional trauma is. According to the psychologist Luciene Fogaça (at https://psicologaluciene.com.br/traumas-emocionais-e-psicologicos/): “emotional traumas are sequelae left by situations that caused suffering or pain, whether emotional or physical, of which the consequences were so great that they end up affecting the person’s thinking and behavior”.

Emotional trauma is very common in people who have been through situations of aggression, violence, rape, illness, accidents, assaults, betrayals, death of close people, etc.

In Western Medicine, there is no single explanation for emotional trauma. What leaves one person traumatized may not traumatize another person. As well as symptoms and treatment will also depend on each case. However, it can be said that some symptoms are more common in traumatized people. According to the psychologist Luciene Fogaça, these symptoms include: insomnia, outbreaks of anger, isolation from social life, the feeling of running away from situations that remind the trauma and the constant memory of the traumatic situation, whether in dreams or during the day when awake. When it becomes even more problematic, the symptoms can also be associated with depression and anxiety.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, emotional trauma directly affects the Kidney. The Kidney is considered the organ that represents our vital energy (Jing) in addition to being the transformer of our Original Energy (Yuan Qi).

THE JING

Jing is nothing more than our essence energy, part of our DNA and linked to our genetic inheritance. It is not energy that can be replenished. Naturally, we lose Jing throughout life, physiologically, and its depletion leads to death. When we suffer an emotional trauma, there is an expenditure of Jing greater than what is considered normal and when the patient’s energy is not rebalanced and the trauma is not treated, symptoms of premature aging, lack of will towards life and deep depression may occur. Therefore, in cases of trauma, it is necessary for the acupuncturist to protect the patient’s Jing.

For this we indicate the acupuncture points:

• Ren4 – 4 fingers below the navel
• The opening and closing points of the Conception Vessel (LU7 and KI6) – being LU7 – 3 fingers away from the wrist crease towards the thumb and KI6 in the inferior curve of the medial malleolus.
• KI9 – 6 fingers above KI3 (which is between the medial malleolus and the Achilles tendon) this point regulates the function of the Kidney, protects the essence and even blocks the passage of traumas that a woman can supposedly go through during pregnancy, to the baby .

Neutral foods for the Water Element should be consumed at least 1x a day until the patient feels more confident about the situation that caused the trauma. The food table can be found at: https://www.facilitatingacupuncture.com/therapeutic-food-tables/

THE YUAN IQ

The Original Energy, produced in the Kidney, is the product of the mixture of the Jing with the Nutritive Energy (Ying Qi), produced by the Lungs. This energy circulates through all our meridians and is the perfect union between the energies we receive at birth (Pre-Celestial) and the one we acquire after birth (Post-Celestial or Acquired Energy).

As we already know, emotional traumas affect Jing, therefore, the transformation of Yuan Qi will be affected. In this way, the patient may feel weakened and discouraged. As part of the Nutritive Energy will not be used, the Lungs will produce it in less quantity, being also affected. Thus, the patient may have respiratory problems, such as recurrent sinusitis, asthma, rhinitis; skin problems such as acne, skin dryness, in addition to emotional problems with the Lung, such as: frustration, anguish, permanent feeling of mourning.

To treat the patient, we can start by strengthening the Jing, with the points mentioned above, and add the following points:

• KI4 – 0.5 tsun below K3, this point strengthens the Kidney’s energy reception from the Lungs.
• KI27 – 3 fingers on the side of the midline of the body, on the lower edge of the clavicle. This point causes the energy of the Lungs to descend and be used correctly by the Kidneys.
• LU9 – in the bend of the wrist towards the palm of the hand and thumb, this point will strengthen the Lung.

In addition to neutral foods for the Water Element, Neutral Foods for the Metal Element are indicated.

In addition to the points mentioned above, the therapist can treat points he deems necessary to calm the patient, open the orifices of the mind, give courage, improve optimism, as well as many others. In this list we can mention respectively: PC6, PC7, GB40 and GB41, DU20, etc.

Emotional trauma needs to be treated and resolved so that the patient has quality of life again and can move forward without the shackles of the past.

Hope I helped you all.

A big hug.

Fernanda Mara