Acupuncture for Complex PTSD

Devon Durst

Are you like me, and have a visceral reaction to hearing, or reading, the word ‘stress’?

Living with complex PTSD has been a rollercoaster ride– acupuncture has become a bright shining star in my toolbox of therapeutic tools, and has helped me smoothe the roll from steep inclines, and plummeting drops, to gentle rolling hills. 

When I was 20 I sought out acupuncture for the first time to treat debilitating migraines. My headaches were atypical, and presented with symptoms similar to what would have been a very scary diagnosis. I was sent for rounds of testing, and scans, which all came back with relieving news, but no answers as to why. The first acupuncture treatment curbed my most intense symptoms, so I continued, though I really wasn’t sure what I was treating. I have strong memories of leaving the student clinic at the since closed American School of Traditional Chinese Medicine with energizing post-treatment levity as I took in the sweeping San Francisco Bay views from their Potrero Hill location: I felt fully relaxed, and overjoyed in these moments. 

With time I realized my migraines were the result of anxiety attacks, and that a traumatized nervous system was the real culprit. Through decades of inner work, and digging deep to sort through the backlogs of trauma and the psychological effects, I was able to get a PTSD diagnosis, and have gained many self-care insights. 

I’ve been fortunate to come to a good place with myself, and my mental health. A significant part of that is paying attention to my thoughts, feelings, and physical well-being. While recovering from c-ptsd isn’t as simple as getting frequent acupuncture treatments, having a safe space, and affordable treatment, to reset my nervous system, get me out of a dissociative state, and fight or flight when I’ve become triggered, has improved my life beyond measure: it soothes both my mind, and the physical manifestations of stress, so that I can reevaluate a situation with my rational mind. 

I’m grateful for the place of refuge, and healing, Chico Community Acupuncture, and other other community acupuncture clinics afar, have offered when my brain was telling me I wasn’t safe.