Therapeutic effect of 8-week acupuncture to
psychologically distressed patients lasted 24 weeks according to a report
published in journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Anxiety and depression are the most common psychological
disorders. They have markedly impact on the quality of life of suffers and are
a substantial source of medical economic costs. Conventional treatment is not
always satisfactory and has many adverse effects. Acupuncture is getting
increasingly popular in treating psychological disorders.
Researchers in Sweden conducted an open, randomized
controlled clinical study to evaluate the intermediate effects (24 weeks) of
8-week treatment on depression and anxiety. One hundred fifty four patients
with psychological distress were randomly allocated to three groups. One group
was treated with acupuncture for 45 mins, another was treated with acupuncture
plus a person-centred salutogenic dialogue for 60 mins and the third group was
given conventional treatment. The treatment was once a week for 8 consecutive
weeks. Anxiety and depression were measured by the Hospital Anxiety and
Depression Scales. Mental health status was assessed with the standard Swedish
version of Short Form-36. All assessments were performed before, at the end of
treatment and 24-week follow-up.
It was found that all treatment groups showed improvement
compared with baseline scores. Evaluation of 24-week follow-up demonstrated
that acupuncture group and acupuncture plus dialogue group maintained the
improvement seen after 8-week treatment; while conventional treatment showed a
declined efficacy.
The study suggests that acupuncture has a long-lasting
therapeutic effect on anxiety and depression.
Reference:
Arvidsdotter T et
al., Six-month effects of integrative treatment, therapeutic acupuncture and conventional
treatment in alleviating psychological distress in primary care patients -
follow up from an open, pragmatic randomized controlled trial. BMC
Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2014, 14:210. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24980440
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