03/03/2019
There appears to be a trend among teens to cut themselves as a way to manage their emotional stress....they may be onto something that acupuncturists have known for thousands of years:
We bleed the ting well points to release heat from the body treating hysteria or emotional overload
BLEEDING PERIPHERAL POINTS:
An Acupuncture Technique
by Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon
Piercing a vein or small artery at the tip of the body-finger tips, toes, or top of the ears-is a technique well-known among acupuncturists. To the uninitiated Westerner, this therapy may seem even stranger than standard needling that is explained as a method of adjusting the flow of qi in the vessels. In this case, a few drops of blood let out from one or more peripheral points by quickly stabbing the skin with a lance is said to have significant effects.
The Lingshu has several references to the use of blood-letting. In the chapter on hot diseases, it states:
For a hot disease with frequent frights, convulsions, and madness, treat the blood channels. Use the number four lance needle. Quickly disperse when there is an excess. When there is insanity and a loss of hair, treat the blood and the heart.
The use of the lance needle to treat the blood channels is a reference to blood-letting. The indications of blood-letting for alleviating heat, convulsions, and mental distress has persisted to modern times. For example, when treating the jing (well) points at the beginning or end of the meridians, the general indication that has come down to us today is for fevers and mental illness.
