Treating Seasonal Depression with Acupuncture

Omega-3 fatty acids, light therapy, physical exercise, and acupuncture are all natural and effective means of treating seasonal depression. Additionally, it is a good idea to shorten work days during the period from November through the end of February. Many Quebecers will experience seasonal depression at some point in their lives. According to the WHO, depression will soon become the second leading cause of disability worldwide, closely following cardiovascular disorders. While from a Chinese medicine perspective, a change in organ functions is normal during the cold season, it reminds us of the importance of dressing adequately, paying particular attention to the region from the navel to the toes, as well as the shoulders, neck, and head. If wind-cold type pathologies affect more of the upper body (common cold, flu, bronchitis, sinusitis...), Quebec winters are also often very humid and can favor dampness-type afflictions, affecting more particularly the lower body (chronic back pain, urinary tract infections, heaviness in the legs, frozen feet).

Repeated assaults of cold, wind, and dampness require exhausting work on the part of our internal organs, and winter in particular demands much of the kidneys (shen), which manage thermoregulation and the foundation of vitality. Indeed, the internal organs follow energetic tides throughout the seasons of the year. Thus, the kidneys are in greater activity in winter, the liver in spring, the heart in summer, the spleen between summer and autumn (harvest season and Indian summer), the lungs in autumn... The age of your kidneys actually determines the physical age of your organism. To preserve the kidneys, one must ensure proper covering during the cold season, even more so after physical exercise or sexual relations.

When organs are constantly over-solicited, fatigue can set in and cause transient depression of the system. A kind of organ strike. This is what often happens to the kidneys of patients who find winters long and difficult. Acupuncture can give your kidneys a boost during this demanding season, through the stimulation of reflex points that correspond to your energetic configuration, which is different for each person. Indeed, there are more than 27 points on the kidney meridian reflex system (jingmai). This system is present on the left and right, just like your two kidneys.

Several other causes are obviously attributable to cyclic seasonal depression. These include, among others; the organic memory of trauma (emotional and/or physical) experienced during this time of year in the past. This phenomenon therefore admits the possibility of transient depression at other times of the year not necessarily corresponding to the end of winter. Moreover, winter depression experienced in early winter, in October/November, is generally viewed as more 'serious' from an organ perspective than that manifesting in February/March. However, the possibility of organic memory of trauma can call into question the simplistic analysis based solely on the time of year during which symptoms manifest.

The kidneys correspond to the yin emotions of fear and severe depression where the patient's vitality has completely collapsed, as well as to the yang emotions of determination, willpower, and the manifestation of creative and sexual expression capacities. The case of unique kidney exhaustion during their season in winter is possible, but in clinical reality, other organs are often involved in depression. Depending on the case, the heart, liver, and spleen may participate in the picture.

While acupuncture can help you progress significantly in raising the energy of your internal organs, it is sometimes advisable to simultaneously undertake a process with a psychologist or psychotherapist. Traditional Chinese medicine recommends brief therapies with regard to these approaches, as endless analysis of mental processes can harm the organ functions of the spleen. Also, obvious but so important, the practice of outdoor activities corresponding to the current season helps greatly to appropriate the environment and the stimulations it can bring to our vitality, at any time of the year. Get out your cross-country skis, your skates, and your snowshoes!

Olivier Roy, acupuncturist, Clinique Shanti, Acupuncture Montréal.

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