Acupuncture better than Standard Care for Anxiety & Depression in Distressed Patients

Acupuncture research from Sweden: acupuncture is better than standard care for anxiety & depression .

Researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have concluded that at six month follow-up, patients with psychological distress, and treated with either acupuncture or integrative care (acupuncture alongside talking therapy), show more long-term benefit than those given conventional care. Patients were drawn from four GP practices across western Sweden, and comprised 120 adults aged 20 to 55. Primary diagnoses were: depression (30%), anxiety or panic disorders (20%), severe stress (20%), somatic symptoms/pain (20%) and sleep disorders (10%). Acupuncture was given once each week for eight weeks.

Both acupuncture and integrative care were more effective than conventional care, in reducing anxiety and depression whilst improving quality of life. The researchers say their results are in line with earlier findings suggesting the effectiveness of acupuncture for anxiety and depression.

(Six-month effects of integrative treatment, therapeutic acupuncture and conventional treatment in alleviating psychological distress in primary care patient – follow up from an open, pragmatic randomized controlled trial.
BMC Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 30 June 2014.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.