Can acupuncture treat depression?
The alternative practice may be able to replace medication or alleviate its side effects
Tori Rodriguez
June 12, 2014
Tori Rodriguez
June 12, 2014
A growing number of people are seeking alternatives to
antidepressant medications, and new research suggests that
acupuncture could be a promising option. One new study
found the traditional Chinese practice to be as effective as
antidepressants, and a different study found that acupuncture
may help treat the medications’ side effects.
In acupuncture, a practitioner inserts needles into the
skin at points of the body thought to correspond with specific
organs. Western medicine suggests the needles may activate
natural painkillers in the brain; in traditional Chinese medicine,
the process is believed to improve functioning by correcting
energy blocks or imbalances in the organs.
A study published last fall in the Journal of Alternative
and Complementary Medicine found that electroacupuncture
– in which a mild electric current is transmitted through the
needles – was just as effective as fluoxetine (the generic
name of Prozac) in reducing symptoms of depression. For
six weeks, patients underwent either electroacupuncture
five times weekly or a standard daily dose of fluoxetine. The
researchers, the majority of whom specialize in traditional
Chinese medicine, assessed participants’ symptoms every
two weeks and tracked their levels of glial cell line-derived
neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a neuroprotective protein.
Previous studies have found lower amounts of GDNF among
patients with major depressive disorder, and in another
research, levels of the protein rose after treatment with
antidepressant medication.
After six weeks, both groups showed a similar improvement
in symptoms, and both treatments restored GDNF to a normal
concentration. But the acupuncture began to work faster,
reducing symptoms more dramatically at weeks two and four
than the drug did. Among the patients who got better, a higher
percentage of the acupuncture recipients showed “great
improvement.”
Another study suggests that acupuncture may help with
one particularly difficult aspect of depression treatment:
the sexual side effects of some medications. Twelve weeks
of acupuncture helped both men and women with several
aspects of sexual functioning, according to the work, also
in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
These findings add to a growing body of research suggesting
acupuncture may be useful for a variety of ailments, including
chronic pain, anxiety and nausea.
(www.scientificamerican.com. Adaptado.)
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