alcoholism and oriental medicine

8/13/2019 Alcoholism and Oriental Medicine

1/4

Alvaro Porras Toledo

Professor Ruth Hayes-Morrison

October 19, 2010

Alcoholis! and Oriental Medicine"

The addiction to alcohol is of #reat $revalence, es$ecially in our current ti!es of national

financial crisis% &ith all the increased financial stresses and burdens, alcohol beco!es even !ore of an

attractive esca$e% 'evertheless, $eo$le often use alcohol to deal (ith all )inds of stresses and life

trau!as, es$ecially life trau!as%

As an Oriental Medicine $ractitioner, it is i!$ortant to understand (hy a $atient !i#ht be

addicted to alcohol% Tellin# so!ebody to *uit drin)in# +ust because its bad for their health (ouldnt be

effective% Often (hen a $erson drin)s alcohol, he is tryin# to self !edicate% There is nothin# unnatural

about (antin# to let #o of stress% t is i!$ortant, thou#h, to choose a stress-release !ediu! that you

can control instead of it controllin# you%

Alcohol is so (idely available and acce$ted that its vital to educate $eo$le fro! very early on

about (hat alcohol is, and (hat it can do to you (hen ta)en in e.cess% The !a)in# of alcohol #oes

bac) to at least 10,000 / as su##ested by the discovery of late stone a#e beer +u#s% n ancient #y$t,

the #od of beer and (ine Osiris (as (idely (orshi$ed% Alcoholic bevera#es (ere !ainly used for

rituals, #atherin#s, !edicine, and funerary $ur$oses% #y$tians also had nor!s for $ro$er consu!$tion

of alcohol and (arned a#ainst drin)in# e.cessively% i!ilarly, this tradition ha$$ened across the #lobe

in other cultures3 includin# Persian, 4ree), /abylonian, hinese, and other indi#enous tribes% n fact,

the !ain co!$onent of the hinese character for !edicine is that of a +u# of alcohol%

Alcohol should be treated (ith res$ect for it accesses the s$irit, hence the co!!on na!e #iven

to hard li*uor, s$irits%" Alcohol is one of the freely available substances that crosses the blood- brain

barrier% n s!all doses, at the ri#ht ti!e and the ri#ht $lace, it can rela. the nervous syste! and

increase circulation% n e.cess, it creates da!$ heat and has a to.ic effect on the body% There is

another as$ect to be ta)en into account, (hich is the *uality and ty$e of the alcoholic bevera#e, but that


2/4

is another to$ic in itself%

o, (hen does drin)in# alcohol turn into alcoholis!5

Accordin# to the 6niversity of Maryland Medical enter3 Alcoholis! is a chronic, often $ro#ressive

disease in (hich a $erson craves alcohol and drin)s des$ite re$eated alcohol related $roble!s 7li)e

losin# a +ob or a relationshi$8% Alcoholis! involves a $hysical de$endence on alcohol, but other factors

include #enetic, $sycholo#ical, and cultural influences"% A$$ro.i!ately 1 !illion $eo$le in the 6nited

tates are addicted to alcohol or abuse alcohol% :urther!ore, alcohol is involved in al!ost half of all

traffic deaths% y!$to!s of alcoholis! include3

ravin# alcohol

'ot bein# able to control the a!ount you drin) /lac)outs 7not re!e!berin# events or conversations8

/eco!in# irritable (hen you can t #et a drin) at your re#ular ti!e

Havin# le#al $roble!s or an inability to sustain a relationshi$ or a +ob

&ithdra(al sy!$to!s, such as nausea, s(eatin#, sha)iness, and an.iety, (hen you sto$

drin)in#

'eedin# !ore alcohol to feel its effects

;rin)in# by yourself in secret


3/4

to *uit5 li)e to ta)e both a$$roaches de$endin# on the $atient and the course of the treat!ent%

(ould su$$ort the $atient e!otionally and try to (a)e hi! u$ throu#h acu$uncture% ven thou#h, he

!ay not (ant to *uit alcohol at first, (ith $ro$er treat!ent, the $ractitioner can #o inside the dar) cave

(here the $atient is lost and li#ht a candle% t is not a$$ro$riate to order $atients (hat to do (ith their

lives, but to sho( the! a (ay out of their addictions% >ou can #ive the! a #li!$se of ho( thin#s

(ould be better if they freed the!selves fro! their chains% Ho(ever, at so!e $oint durin# the

treat!ent you !i#ht see it necessary to be !ore drastic and #ive the $atient an ulti!atu!%

deally, you (ould (ant the $atients to start #oin# to AA !eetin#s by their o(n free (ill% f

they #o there to $lease so!ebody else, and not because they have the true desire to *uit, they (ill !ost

li)ely )ee$ drin)in#% They could even !a)e a habit of attendin# the !eetin#s (hile drun)% A

recoverin# alcoholic said, AA is not for those (ho need it, but for those (ho (ant it%" Thats (hy

there are alcoholics that #o to AA (ho rela$se% t is (ithin the $o(er of Oriental Medicine to ali#n

$atients (ith their true selves and to i#nite their (ill to ta)e control of their lives%

o far, there has not been any valid scientific research sho(in# si#nificant i!$rove!ent fro!

alcohol de$endence throu#h a $articular acu$uncture treat!ent% a#ree (ith the research in the sense

that there is no standard treat!ent of acu$uncture that (ill hel$ !ost alcoholics% Alcoholis! is a

delicate condition !ore closely lin)ed to the s$irit of the $erson, and as such, it should be a condition

that is treated individually% Research often detaches the $ractitioner fro! the $atient% /ut (hen it co!es

to treatin# the s$irit, the $ractitioner needs to be !ore sub+ectively involved in the case than if it (as

so!ethin# basic, such as a fro?en shoulder%


4/4

Additional Notes:

;idnt find any scientifically conducted research sho(in# that acu$uncture hel$ed alcohol de$endence37 has been sho(n to hel$ (ith o$iate de$endence thou#h8

htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@191=B

htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@191B2199

htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@119212

Ho(ever, acu$uncture does sho( better results for hel$in# substance abuse $atients (hen incon+unction (ith $sycho-educational treat!ent3

htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@1921=C

hinese haracter for Medicine3

References:

6niversity of Maryland Medical enter

htt$3@@(((%u!!%edu@alt!ed@articles@alcoholis!-000002%ht!

htt$3@@(((%alcoholis!-infor!ation%co!@Alcoholis!Dtatistics%ht!l

htt$3@@?hon#(en%co!@d@[email protected]%ht!

htt$3@@en%(i)i$edia%or#@(i)i@HistoryDofDalcoholicDbevera#es
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19413653http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19152199http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11932132http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19241647http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/alcoholism-000002.htmhttp://www.alcoholism-information.com/Alcoholism_Statistics.htmlhttp://zhongwen.com/d/194/x229.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alcoholic_beverageshttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19152199http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11932132http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19241647http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/alcoholism-000002.htmhttp://www.alcoholism-information.com/Alcoholism_Statistics.htmlhttp://zhongwen.com/d/194/x229.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alcoholic_beverageshttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19413653

alcoholism and oriental medicine

Documents