Acupuncture & Depression
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009In this short article, I shall explain something about what to expect when you seek acupuncture treatment for depression. In a survey published in 2006, of over 9000 acupuncture patients in the UK, 11% of them were presenting with psychological complaints; in many practices, depression represents a significant portion of this category. Additionally, the World Health Organisation predicted in 2008, that by 2020, depression will be second only to chronic heart disease as an international health burden. It is thus a common problem, and about two-thirds of adults will at some time experience depression severe enough to interfere with their normal activities.
Should you decide to come for acupuncture treatment, some of the most important aspects I shall be interested in learning about first are whether you have a history of depression previously, when and how it began (eg. identifiable events or disproportionate reactions thereto), and how it affects your daily life (eg. ability to work, family and social relationships etc). Your wider health is enormously important too: do you feel the depression is a reaction to the burden of chronic pain or to limitations imposed by some other medical problem, or might it even stem from medication used to control that problem? Have you had depression in the past which now seems to have recurred in response to a new health problem, a recent significant life event, or stressful circumstances?
Looking more widely still, I am interested in the full array of other symptoms which accompany your depression. These can encompass fatigue, poor concentration, sleep disturbance, appetite or weight changes, or feelings such as irritability, anger, anxiety, panic or guilt. I can then begin to re-frame the picture of your health from a Chinese medical perspective, and devise a plan of treatment. If it is practical, we can try to directly help obvious causes of your depression, such as stress or chronic pain. In other cases, the causes do not lend themselves to such an approach, in which case we just try to tackle the depression. Lifestyle advice can often be a particularly useful part of treatment: in Chinese medicine, the health of our physical body is considered important for our mental and spiritual health too. This gives our shen or spirit, a good home in which it can settle happily rooted.
Below you will find the results of recent research, some into acupuncture for depression, and some which hints at worthwhile self-help measures. Please do contact me if you would like to discuss anything further.