Articles
Acupuncture effective for depression - Journal of Chinese Medicine, Oct 2009 |
| Posted by Paula Hutchinson (paulahutchinson) on Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 12:33 PM |
A systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for various depressive conditions has concluded that it is safe and constitutes an effective treatment for some forms of depression. Of 207 clinical studies of acupuncture retrieved from databases, twenty were considered o be of high enough quality to be subjected to meta-analysis. The results showed that the efficacy of acupuncture as monotherapy was comparable to antidepressants in improving clinical response and alleviating symptom severity of major depressive disorder, but not different from sham acupuncture. Acupuncture was also found to be superior to antidepressants and waiting-list controls in improving both response and symptom severity of post-stroke depression. The incidence of adverse events in acupuncture intervention was significantly lower than with antidepressants. (The effectiveness and safety of acupuncture therapy in depressive disorders: Systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2009 Jul 24. [Epub ahead of print]).
