Acupuncture for Addiction Recovery

By: Boris Dzhingarov

Dealing with addictions in all possible forms is challenging every time and for every person facing these issues. Only with proper support and specialized people there to help you, you can ensure successful recovery on the long run. This is a complex process that starts before recovery and never ends. The post-recovery stage is very important to make sure that achieved results are there to stay.

The good news is that specialists say that even acupuncture can help a lot when you fight against addictions. There are options for you to consider, you just have to find people to support you and undergo such treatments to heal yourself. Let’s see why and how can acupuncture help with addiction recovery.

The Real Effects of Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been an integrated part of Asian medicine for more than 2500 years since it was first discovered in its basic form. It functions through the insertion of fine, small needles into specific body points. These are meant to stimulate natural healing. This treatment is also currently used in numerous addiction treatment facilities as part of self-help programs with the purpose of full recovery.

Auricular Acupuncture: Proven Effectiveness

Auricular acupuncture is the most common form of treatment used in cases of substance addiction around the world. Studies and trials have even revealed the fact that it can be a successful treatment for people dealing with opium addictions or those trying to prevent relapse of heroin use.

This form of medical care is successful through the placement of self-sticking type of electrodes onto the skin over the acupoint. Everything is followed by electrical stimulation with the main purpose of ameliorating the opium withdrawal signs as well as the relapse of other substance use.

Related Article:  Acupuncture Myths Nobody Should Believe

Multiple Biological Responses

A wide variety of studies have revealed the fact that acupuncture leads to numerous biological responses. First of all, manual acupuncture seems to be able to trigger a serious chain of events well understood through controlled type of experiments. The most common one so far is the mechanism made via endogenous opiates in reaction to their receptors. Moreover, acupuncture leads to an accelerated release of endorphins and dynorphin, which proves to be effective in the case of addiction recovery.

Additionally, studies have proven that acupuncture also influences the reinforcing effects of the substance known as morphine. In terms of positive reinforcement, specialists say that acupuncture treatments activate important receptors on the dopamine body cell and activate other useful receptors through dynorohin neurons. This process results in decreased dopamine release which is effective for addiction recovery.

Great Challenges of Life

Engaging in a battle against addiction is certainly one of the greatest challenges of life. When substances are involved, the recovery process is even more difficult to be completed and ensure long-term results. However, with modern treatments based on acupuncture and in combination with other effective methods, full addiction recovery is now possible for patients around the globe. We can only recommend you to try such methods if you face these challenges and re-establish balance in your life.