ANXIETY

One vitally important aspect of Chinese Medicine which makes it unique from western theories is it's lack of set prescriptions for certain conditions.  To properly apply Chinese Medicine you must have a full grounding in the underlying theory which will drive appropriate point selection.  One could not reasonably answer a question such as this without knowing an overall diagnosis, what has happened during the treatment (i.e. why you feel you need a different point protocol) and your needling points and methods.

For a presentation of the TCM diagnoses and related points behind anxiety treatment you should start by reading my article on the treatment of anxiety with acupuncture.  This will give you an idea of the different categories someone with anxiety might fall into and the points that would be indicated for each of these.

For effective treatments, your choice of points has to be tied into an overall diagnosis in Chinese medical terms.  Otherwise you are forgoing the richness of the theory and diagnostic criteria and it's flexibility in adapting to people with a host of symptoms (which is always the case) rather than a particular condition regardless of who the patient is (which generally will lead to inferior results).

Along those same lines, the Chinese and Japanese protocols are probably best not being combined as the diagnostic criteria that form the point selection is different in both systems.  Japanese acupuncture is quite different in many ways from the standard Chinese systems and properly applying it is requires significant training above and beyond the standard TCM training.  My site has a fairly involved section of Japanese theory and treatment protocols.  For anxiety you may want to look at some of the following protocols (but again what you would do has to be based on what you find within the patient, not just their main complaint).

From the Five Element Treatment Protocols:

Lung Sho

Kidney Sho

From the Extraordinary Vessel Protocols:

Yin Wei Chong Mai

Tai Ji Treatment

Cheers,

Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Yin Yang House Acupuncture and Wellness Center