TCM for Mental Health — for real?
At Chinese Doc Singapore, we research and discover new ways to use traditional and time-tested medicine. Here we do research for mental health, which includes, anxiety, depression, insomnia and sleep.
All the research was done by student interns who put in alot of work so that you can learn a little more!
Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. In severe cases, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time, interfering with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships.
Anxiety may sometimes lead to Insomnia, which is defined as difficulty falling asleep or remaining asleep. Insomnia and subsequent sleep deficit may affect one health over time. In fact, the stress of being plagued with insomnia may aggravate it further.
Sometimes, anxiety and depression may appear together when triggered by a highly stressful event, and may often involve some form of loss, violation or neglect.
Benzodiazepines like Xanax work by attaching to a receptor in your brain called the GABA-A receptor. When Xanax binds to this receptor, it creates a sedative effect. At Soma Clinic, when we treat with Chinese herbs, we are assessing your body constitution and clinical presentation, to create a formula using herbs which affect the GABA pathway, but also other herbs that prevent glutamate release and inhibit AMPA and NMDA receptors, all helping manage anxiety and alleviate insomnia.
These concepts are especially important in understanding anxiety and insomnia, which are conditions covered by videos showcased on this page. We hope you enjoy the videos!
Monoamine Hypothesis of Depression
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Zhi Mu is a Chinese herb that helps with depression, as we will explain the second part of this video.
But first, listen to this first part of the video to learn from Emma about the monoamine hypothesis of depression! In this video, she explains very clearly the theory which underpins most of the modern pharmacological solutions to mental health disorders.
YY21 and how it works.
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Zhi Mu is a herbal Yin tonic that has traditionally been used for clearing heat. In this video, we explain very clearly the pharmacological properties of this herb — especially that of YY21 — that also make it useful for battling depression! Listen on to learn more!
[Click on Image above to watch Youtube Video]
Perimenopause is the phase of a women’s life where hormonal changes cause mood swings, insomnia as well as vasomotor disruptions. The most common vasomotor symptom faced by a perimenopausal women nearing 50 years of age would be hot flashes and night sweats.
We research and explain how a known herbal formula for treating fibroids and masses is also able to help with perimenopausal night sweats without affecting hormone levels! Yes, you heard us correctly – without affecting hormonal levels. Listen on to find out more!
[Click on Image above to watch Youtube Video]
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a presentation that is tightly intertwined with burnout, overwhelm and subsequent depression. It is not a condition that is easy to treat.
Listen on to discover how we created a Chinese herbal formulation for a patient with CFS and depression. She benefited from the Chinese herbs, and this video is to share about it!
At Chinese Doc Singapore, we are interested in furthering the integration of Chinese medicine into the existing landscape of biomedicine. Apart from the articles put out, we also host a TCM Clinical Internship program that is focus on research on herbal medicine that would improve a clinician’s efficacy when facing a real-life patient. Click here to find out more!
