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AcuDETOX
The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) protocol or NADA 5 Needle Point protocol (5NP)—also known as Acudetox, Acuwellness, auricular acupuncture, and 5-point ear acupuncture—is one of the most popular forms of acupuncture in the United States. Acudetox is supportive for nervous system regulation, addiction, chronic pain, stress, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, trauma, PTSD, and disaster response.
The protocol entails inserting disposable, sterile acupuncture needles into five points of each ear where the participant(s) sit quietly for 30-45 minutes. Research has shown these five ear points to have effects on emotional, cognitive, endocrine, neuropsychologic, and biochemical levels. Positioning the acupuncture needles into these standardized five points encourages the release of negative emotions linked to particular organs: “the liver with anger, the lungs with sadness, and the kidney with fear. The Shen Men point reduces anxiety, whereas the sympathetic autonomic point calms down excess sympathetic activity. Both of these points help to increase parasympathetic activation by balancing the sympathetic/parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system” (Buchanan et al., p. 91, 2018).
Acudetox is a nonverbal approach to healing. Differing from other mind-body therapies, Acudetox is passive, and participation can be entirely nonverbal. Clients who feel too traumatized to discuss their experience(s) greatly benefit from Acudetox. Furthermore, working with nonverbal communication (NVC) with and through the body provides access to early stages of human development where the blueprint of how you relate to yourself, and others, was formed (internal working model). By incorporating NVC we engage with the entirety of the organism, and we offer support to clients who might not be willing or ready to engage in verbal therapeutic approaches.
The protocol entails inserting disposable, sterile acupuncture needles into five points of each ear where the participant(s) sit quietly for 30-45 minutes. Research has shown these five ear points to have effects on emotional, cognitive, endocrine, neuropsychologic, and biochemical levels. Positioning the acupuncture needles into these standardized five points encourages the release of negative emotions linked to particular organs: “the liver with anger, the lungs with sadness, and the kidney with fear. The Shen Men point reduces anxiety, whereas the sympathetic autonomic point calms down excess sympathetic activity. Both of these points help to increase parasympathetic activation by balancing the sympathetic/parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system” (Buchanan et al., p. 91, 2018).
Acudetox is a nonverbal approach to healing. Differing from other mind-body therapies, Acudetox is passive, and participation can be entirely nonverbal. Clients who feel too traumatized to discuss their experience(s) greatly benefit from Acudetox. Furthermore, working with nonverbal communication (NVC) with and through the body provides access to early stages of human development where the blueprint of how you relate to yourself, and others, was formed (internal working model). By incorporating NVC we engage with the entirety of the organism, and we offer support to clients who might not be willing or ready to engage in verbal therapeutic approaches.