Anxiety is often diagnosed as a heart energy weakness in Chinese medicine. When your heart and spleen become weak, your heart weakness can manifest as anxiety. We use herbs to strengthen and sedate the heart energy.
One of my favorite formulas for this is called “Yang Xin tang”. This formula often is called “Peaceful spirit” . It has herbs such as Panax ginseng, that strengthen the heart, spleen and lungs as well as herbs that calm the spirit. They do not work like pharmaceuticals. You will not feel groggy the next day or spaced out. When you take these herbs, you will find that over time, you should need them less. The underlying issue is being address and you do not need to take them forever. Although, it is nice to keep some around in case you need them.
Acupuncture is also very effective for anxiety. The main acupuncture points used for anxiety are Pericardium 6 and Heart 7. These acupuncture points are located on the wrist. They can quickly calm you as well as treating the underlying issues causing anxiety. The acupuncture tends to start working within 10 minutes, whereas the herbs take a few hours. I also sometimes use magnetic pellets on these points to be used at night to get to sleep and stay asleep.
As an acupuncturist, I use Chinese Herbal Medicine to treat anxiety. My favorite herbal formula is Peaceful Spirit.