today we're going to talk about mental health we're going to start by talking about Flem in TCM and Flem specifically misting the mind and understanding how do we get flam how do we get rid of Flem what is Flem just want to make sure that we really understand that because that's a very TCM concept right so we're going to talk about the 13 ghost points because that's the whole lecture is about right and we're going to talk about points combination that are great to use in clinical practice because my goal is to not just teach Theory but to make it applicable in practice right so that's the whole point uh of this lecture welcome back to my channel if it's your first time here I'm Clara I create acupuncture and Chinese medicine content for practitioners and students making it easy to grasp and fun to learn let's talk about Flem and TCM so first of all let's define Flem and then we'll talk about how do we get Flem and how do we get rid of FL right so basically we have two flams in TCM we have visible flam and invisible flam and that always confus my students so like invisible what the hell that's a bit woo woo what is going on right so visible flam is something that is going to be thick sticky and it because it's thick and sticky it sticks meaning it's hard to get rid of that's the problem with flam it's hard to get rid of it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time and a lot of tools to try to get rid of it so the visible flam would be something like flam yes Flem as in coughing Flem that's thick and sticky that is flam for sure other things are going to be things like cysts so cysts in the ovary fibrocystic breast any cyst even a ganglion any cyst cystic acne that is FL another one would be uh obesity what it means is when people have a lot of excess fat like a lot we're not talking about you know 10 pounds or 3 Kil Kos and four kilos or depending where you are stones in England I still don't get the stones so I won't go there when you are in the obese range this excess fat all that excess excess fat that is Flem also plaque in the arteries so atherosclerosis and so it is going to be considered flam it's sticky and it blocks the blood flow into the arteries and then of course that can create if it's completely blocked right a heart attack so that is also flam incm and that's visible because you could see it through imagery right so it doesn't mean you could see it through the eyes naked eye but through imagery then there's invisible FL and invisible FL is what we're going to talk mostly about today it's what I call it's like a yellow sticky film that's basically in front of your brain in front of your eyes and affects your way of being able to think in a clear way so one of the the main flen symptoms would be feeling foggy feeling like you have a film in front of your face right that's a foggy head that's really FL then another one would be anxiety starting to worry and be anxious into to panic attack making movies in our heads that are not real and then get into into an anxiety that is also invisible flam depression is also invisible FL so usually with depression there's always liver stagnation because you feel stuck but depression would be also FL hallucination schizophrenia that is FL as well auditory or visual hallucinate hallucination paranoia that is also Flem right so a lot of mental disorders are going to be invisible Flem that means that there's nothing we could see technically but what's interesting is if you've ever seen research on Alzheimer's Alzheimer disorder is flam in the brain when they go after the person has died and they go into their brain and they analyze the brain and look and what the brain looked like right after the person died of years of having Alzheimer they realized that there is yellow plaque in certain area of the brain specifically the memory area and certain area that actually basically impaired the person life and impaired their way when they were aging and when they were getting older they get this yellow plaque when I watch that whole study I thought this is so TCM because this is the yellow plaque it is flam so actually with alheim patients they actually can see physical yellow plaque in the brain which I found so cool because it really correlate with what TCM has said for many many many years FL can come from any of the causes of disease in TCM so let me repeat that flam can come from any of the causes of disease of TCM so when we were talking about obesity for example it could come from Constitution weak Constitution it could come from overeating so diet which is obviously cause of disease in TCM when you have Flem like your coughing Flem it could come from external pathogen Invasion it could also come from diet it could come from smoking like lifestyle right no matter what the flam and the invisible Flem is the same thing so even anxiety depression any mental disorder can come from genetics so that's a weak Essence right Constitution is weak it could come from a lack of nutrients so diet missing omega-3 essential fatty acid all that it could come from having trauma an emotional trauma that happened and then that resulted in anxiety or depression or Etc right so all causes of disease in TCM can lead to flam so how we get it is also looking at the cause stepping back and trying to see can we control the cause if the cause is Constitution or weak essence we can't do much about it right but if the causes diet low in supplement it's an emotional trauma then we have tools to try to address that and try to either manage or help the person get better right that's the idea about FL the tough part is to get rid of flam takes a long time because it is sticky so any kind of flam doesn't matter if it's visible or invisible we have to have a very clean diet no sugar no d no processed food no alcohol right it has to have a really clean diet supplement most of the time to make sure we have all the nutrients we need uh a really strong healthy gut so a healthy gut I mean a healthy digestive system so Spen and stomach incm perspective obviously that's super important also fresh air exercise and probably also counseling so counseling is also important when it comes to mental health we have lots of different tools that we need to use and utilize to help and a support it's really important that when people have tough times or have a mental disorder they need support specifically family and friends support what's the best point to treat flam when it comes to acupuncture my favorite point of them all the best point for flam is stomach 40 stomach 40 is the best point for flam so no matter what you have to put stomach 40 if there is flam which often is the case with mental health right so stomach 40 is one of the best point for anxiety for depression and you can see it's a low Connecting Point to from the stomach to the spleen so it's really a gut related Point that's why it's important to have a good diet and to have a really healthy gut in order for the mental the brain and the gut are very much related right so that's how we connect those two the 13 ghost Point s Samia was the father of medicine or often he's called the king of medicine in TCM and he came up with those 13 Ghosts most point to treat specifically mental health and also neurological disorder like epilepsy right that's who started this whole ghost point in clinical practice today they're more used to ground the patient to calm the patient to allow the patient to go through certain trauma certain time of their lives and try to help their body relax into it and center and ground them when it comes to the 13 ghost points most of the time we don't do all 13 that would be really not a good thing right so the maximum would be three goal Point per treatment for a person that would be the maximum usually one is enough maybe you need two or three but one probably would be your best bet so we don't want to overdo it and go okay let's do all the 13 ghost points that would not be a good idea why is this called ghost point I think Chinese medicine comes from the perspective that Chinese language is very poetic right and the translation is very poetic and it's hard for for us because we're like okay the ghost point right if I say oh I'm doing the ghost Point people are going to go okay acupuncture so woo woo uh what is this the ghost blah blah blah so it doesn't matter if you believe in ghost or not that's not the point the point is that ghost is the spirit that's living in your house right so there's a house and then in that house there's ghosts that live there and that's what people are going to think well those ghost points are exactly that they're the spirit that lives in the head instead of in the house they live in the mind so those ghost points are actually ghost in your mind meaning that they're not there they're just renting and sitting in your head like they're sitting in your house and we need to address the fact that they're there and we need to try to get rid of them right that's the idea so we need to address the ghosts that are basically sitting in our mind like they sit in a house and it's affecting the patient because it's residing here and creating chaos and fear and anxiety and other emotions long 11 is the goes point for partnership breakup so partnership breakup that end up in a nasty way or a bad way where the person is really upset like mad a bad divorce where the person is really really upset or maybe it's a bad partnership maybe a Business Partnership that went sour it is really for breakup of a partner ship being business or a partnership maybe a friendship right you have a friendship for 20 years and then you have a bad breakup with that friendship and you're really mad the way it went down the way that person treated you whatever happened right so it's okay to be mad for you know a couple of weeks but some people will hold this for months and months and they will really basically eat them alive right so long 11 is a really good point to try to let go of that that is what we want to use that point for the next next one is large intestine 11 love large intestine 11 one of the best point to clear heat anywhere in the body well it is also a ghost point and it is the ghost point that is really useful when people lose control people have Ro rage and then they lose control and they start fighting with someone or they really lose control the rage make them lose control so if someone has a lot of rage that could end up in hurting someone in being very out of control contr that is the best point it brings the heat down the anger down specifically if it's combined with liver to right because liver two is one of the best one to bring liver young down so which is excess heat in the liver and which creates anger I've had patients over the years that are parents and parents sometimes are so stressed because they're running around all day and then their kids are not listening and they're fighting and suddenly the parents just gets really mad and start yelling at the kid and then they feel horrible right for what happen and they feel terrible and they're like oh my God I'm the worst parent ever we always have to do a TCM diagnosis no matter what but adding up this ghost points will bring that loss of control anger right out right that's what we want to do so that's a really good point for that stomach six so stomach six is one of my favorite point because it is located on the prominence of the massader the massader is the clenching jaw muscle so when you clench you got this Mador that pops out and that's the top of the Mador that's where stomach s is and it is on the clenching muscle so stomach six is really good for post-traumatic stress disorder most people that have post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD are clenching specifically at night or even during the day because they're all tense all stress due to post-traumatic stress disorder So for anybody that has PTSD I I love stomach six I love spleen one now it's a jing wall porn so it's prick to bleed which is not very comfortable someone asked me the other day how do you prick to bleed what do you do to make it less painful so first of all if the person's foot is really cold it is going to be much more painful because there's no blood circulation in that area so first warm up the area maybe by massaging the toe by massaging the area putting the heat lamp over it but warm it up a bit right otherwise even when you prick to bleed you won't get any blood out because there's no blood in the area once it's massaged and it's warmer and the circulation then you can prick to bleed spin one spin one is used for abnormal uterine bleeding we use that a lot in clinical practice but it's also a ghost point and sometimes we forget that it is a great ghost point it is used for people that eat their feelings so it's for emotional eating of course we need to look at the root cause of the problem counseling probably will be needed there's a lot more but this is a really good point and I have a lot of patients specifically female patients who have a poor body image and they eat their feelings right they're like oh my God I just I had a stressful day and every time I have a stressful day I go home and I just can't stop eating just doesn't make me feel good after in the moment it helps but after it doesn't right so that's really a good point and what I wanted to say about this one is if you combine spleen one with gallbladder 34 so gb34 gb34 is the best point for self-image and self-esteem CBL 34 with spleen one really helps with poor body image and with emotional eatings oh I love love love bladder 62 I know I keep saying I love all the points bladder 62 is fantastic for two reasons first it's one of the best point when people feel like they're caring the world on on their shoulders so too many responsibilities and how many people feel that way a lot a lot of our patients have three jobs and kids and they're running around and they feel like financially everything is difficult and they have to juggle everything and they feel like the world is sitting on their shoulder and they feel overwhelmed and it's like too much and it's dragging them down this is the best point to use so bladder 62 is really good for that on the other hand it's also a ghost point this ghost point point is generally used for people that have had this is a tough subject so I'm telling you right now this is a tough subject in general that I've had sexual abuse as a child or a teenager I had a patient for many years she came at the beginning for literally balancing hormones and a little bit of anxieties so there was anxiety that was there and we were treating that with the hormones and then everything got settled and she was much better and then she came once a month for maintenance right and I have to say it was really interesting because one day because I've known her for years like six years when she comes in and she goes how was your day today and I said oh I was teaching this morning and we talked about ghost points today and she goes ghost points that sounds funny I said it's just points that are really good to kind of get clean up the ghost in your brain which means basically trying to help with mental health she goes oh that's really cool and she goes well explain give me a point so I said well there's a point that's on your ankle area and that point is really good for people that have had sexual abuse as a younger person that resulted in anxiety or depression as an adult for example and she stops me and she goes can you do that point on me today and I was just floored I've known her six years and I had no idea I still have Goosebump just thinking about it because I just looked at her and I said sure of course so I did the point it was so powerful she burst out in tears right on the table I was just quite surprised right I didn't expect it and I said this is good this is good I gave her a tissue and then she basically cried for a little bit longer and then I I said I'm gonna let you be I'm gonna turn the lights down put some music and then you can call me anytime but let it happen let the process happen I came back at the end of the treatment and she said that she cried even more after and more but she felt like L awake was lifted off her shoulders that was so cool it really tells you that what we do as acupuncturist and practitioners is so powerful and so rewarding because you can help someone that's had carried emotional trauma for many many many years and you can help them at least get some breathing and some release so that to me is completely worth what we're doing that's why I love bladder 62 you could see why right pericardium 7 so pericardium 7 is the protector of the heart pericardium is the protector of the heart so pc7 is deal SP for broken heart a broken heart doesn't mean just a broken heart as in you're in love with someone and they break your heart yes it is for that if someone breaks your heart you're in love with them and they break your heart that is a great point to help you deal with the broken heart it's also not just about that it's about any broken heart when you lose your pet if you love your dog your cat any kind of pet I love animals I would have loved to be a vet if I hadn't done what I'm doing so if you lose your pet it is a broken heart your heart is broken so pc7 is a really good point for that because you feel brokenhearted you lost someone you loved so much your furry baby right anytime you feel like your heart is broken this is the best point now another pericardium point but this PC PC8 so the next next point right on the palm which is a little bit more tender because it's on the palm um is one of the best point for paranoia so paranoia can be brought on by medication paranoia could be a part of schizophrenia or any disorder can be brought on by drugs a lot of uh emotional trauma can also have paranoia we need a lot more but this is a useful point to add to your treatment no matter what if there's paranoia right okay before we continue I'm going to ask you if you like my Graphics if you like my Graphics they are all all those points the ghost points all the acupuncture points are in my book acupoint made easy if you don't have it yet you either have the PDF option which you can download on any device and it has lots of links complimentary videos that is very good to have to complement the PDF or you can have the book it ships all over the world not everywhere so if you like the book or the PDF the link is below in the description you can go and grab your copy a lot of people have gotten both which totally totally warmed my heart so let's continue with this point so this point R one first of all the location of Ren one is not easy we understand that the location in Ren one and you can see it through that picture sure it is in a location that's very sensitive to people and a lot of people might not want you to needle r one because of where it is located but if they are comfortable with it and you have to ask permission because it is located in an area that is sensitive it is a very good gohost point for both male and female having issue with body image issue that basic they can't reach orgasm because they feel anxious about sex and their sexual being so people specifically women after having babies they feel like they're not really pretty anymore they feel like they can't reach orgasm because they're anxious during sexual activities and they feel shameful of their body the body doesn't look as good as they used to be so they're more and an anxiety state during intercourse or during love making that they can can't reach orgasm because it's more an anxiety than a fun time so it's the same for men this is a really good point for men that have erectile disfunction specifically when there's pressure and I have a lot of couples that I see that come for fertility purposes and they've tried for three four years before they come to see me and so there's a lot of pressure once you have to have intercourse at the same time every month for ovulation because we're got to try to make a baby and it's now on this time the husband comes through the door and the wife is like okay it's time let's go let's go it's a lot of pressure right so when that is the case there is pressure there is uh shame behind feeling a body that is not sexual anymore feel like we can't reach orgasm because we feel anxiety during the love part of it this is a very good point so it is a really good point to use but again because of its location it makes it a little bit more difficult right when 24 so R 24 is your chin dimple counter point right below the lips and that's interesting because what do your lips do they smile right so R 24 is a ghost point for people that never ever smile anymore or laugh and are consumed by dark thoughts so people that are really in a dark space in their mind and never laugh never even smile and I've had patients like this you could say a joke they could watch a funny movie nothing no smile no laughing not even like a little smoke or anything nothing they are consumed by dark thoughts I think when we use our observation skills you could see in that person that they're defeated that they're in a dark place and that it's really hard for them to come out of it so the idea with W 24 as a ghost point is to help someone come out of their dark thoughts so they can smile again so they can be feeling Joy again because those people haven't felt joy in a very very long time when one was a sensitive area D16 is considered a dangerous point because it is right where the foran is where the spinal cord goes right through to get to the brain so the needle technically could go through the forment into the brain and make the brain bleed we so don't want to do that so if you feel uncomfortable needling do 16 you can acupressure it but if you stay very very very very shallow we should be safe I will not do this point if you are not qualified please do not attend to do something if you're not qualified that's super important for me that the profession of acupuncture keeps being very very safe and do everything in the right way so that's super important so with do6 even though it's a dangerous point it is a really good point for people that resist change so we all know that change is constant this is something that we know for sure is that change is constant you cannot stop change some people have a really hard time with change right they're having a hard time coping with it they resist change it's like nope it's got to be this way and that's that right but it creates a allot of stress into them because they can't control the change and they are really stressed about it this is a really good point to use let's look look at do 23 so do 23 is on top of the head it's one soon within the hairline on the midd line and do 23 is for diena so it is not going to reverse dementia and the person's not going to have dementia that's not what it's for it is to try to slow down to manage it and so it would have to be done part of a whole TCM diagnosis to support Essence because dementia happens as people age and their Essence in their Jing their Essence is depleting right so you have to start supporting Essence early in life so if dementia is part of the parish's family or anybody that you know has dementia in their family this is a good point to try to have combining with tonifying Essence so preserving Essence like kidney 3 kidney six do four r four those points are great to protect the kidneys as we age and heart seven because it's a great point for for memory as well so this ghost points is good to use for calming the dementia if people feel like they they don't know what's happening they lost their memory and they feel all stressed about it and anxious about it because they don't know what's going on right and they don't want to lose their memory and they can see it happening and it's very frightening this is a really good point to calm the mind so we're not as scared when this happens let's talk about doe 26 so doe 26 is a little bit more sensitive anybody's ever needle d26 let me know it is quite painful because it's above the upper lip and it is quite a sensitive area needing this point is quite sensitive kind of like d 25 right d 25 is at the tip of the nose yikes D 26 is a very very good point for intergenerational trauma in Canada we have a lot of people including myself who were not born here right I was born in France I came here a lot of my patients and not born here and they come from another country and sometimes they come from a country where there was war in the last few years and they had inter generational trauma also some patients their parents come from a war zone came here my patients themselves have been born here but they are coming from intergenerational trauma uh background so this is a really good point if someone has tendency to laugh for no reason all the time you know like they giggle like you're like so how do you sleep at night and then their answer is like how's your energy and they start laughing so you see a pattern of they're giggling and laughing the whole time because they're nervous where is that coming from and a lot of time it's a trauma that is connected to past generation and that's how the person is stuck in that laughter so that is a really good point because again it's above the lips remember laughing is all about the lips right we said when 24 was people that never smile or laugh this is for people that laugh all the time for no reason and often this is to calm down the trauma that they don't even know is affecting them from past generation and if you've read research it is really in our DNA in our DNA cells are carrying our past generation trauma so it's important to deal with them because sometimes we don't know why we feel something why we feel certain way we don't understand why well they could come back from way back when and that's really hard to treat right so this is a really good point for that perspective we're going to talk about yinong yinong is not a ghost point I will repeat yinong is not a ghost point the 13 ghost point is guay fun gay fun is an extra point and it is underneath the tongue so not a great point to needle on most patients right because it's prick to bleed and you go underneath there it's like it's kind of like a lot of patients might not be too excited about that point so often a lot of people will switch and use yinong instead guong and yinong are the same function it's to feel like we are connecting with ourselves we are enlightened we are connecting with who we are at the core and we are calm and collected and wisdom widish that's not a word I know we feel like we are smart and the wisdom and the sage in US is coming out right so basically it really is for people that just don't connect to their inner core they're just so outwards that they forget to go inward this is a really good point to connect Inward and I have a lot of patients that are outwards which everything is external they don't connect to the inside this is a really good point to connect to the insides so gang is the 13 ghost points but often that is going to be switched because obviously it's not an easy point to quick to bleed underneath the T this is my website acore Academy and under TCM courses right under TCM courses there are courses on mental health so the mental health and TCM is a free course if you've done it I know people really enjoy it it's completely free and I talk about F and uh how to treat irritability and anything that has to do with sadness and fear and all the emotions so with lots lots of really great tips on the other hand I also have mental disorders and TCM which address insomnia anxiety ADHD OCD this course has C approved by Canada NCC in the States Australia the UK there is so much more on my website you can go on this and you can see there's courses there's Foundation diagnosis acupuncture Theory acupuncture protocol case study if you haven't been to my website there's a lot more there so I I really encourage you to check out the blog the resources because I have tons of resources subscribe to my channel that would be really much appreciated