Depression is a mood disorder explained as having both physical and psychological symptoms that can be detrimental to a persons usual daily life. When depressed you often suffer from bad sleeping habits, crying periods, anxiety, worry, bad memory, inability to concentrate, body aches, stomach disturbances and a lack of interest in activities you formerly liked doing.
In the late nineteen nineties, the NIH’s Office of Alternative Medicine financed a study at the University of Arizona. Working with acupuncturist who developed were divided into three groups. The first group received the anti depression specific acupuncture, the second group got the mock treatment, and the third group was put on a waiting list before being placed on eight weeks of the real treatment.
Following the acupuncture depression treatment, the depression specific groups experienced a 43 percent reduction in their symptoms compared with a 22 percent reduction for the mock group. More than half no longer met the criteria for clinical depression. Only five people dropped out of the study, two moved away, one became pregnant, and two didn’t like being poked with needles.
This study puts forward the notion that using acupuncture as a standalone treatment could be as effective as other types of treatments for relieving depression symptoms typically used in Western medicine, such as psychotherapy and drugs. These results are promising enough that the United Nations World Health Organization has accepted acupuncture as a treatment for depression. Further clinical trials with larger samples are deemed necessary to endorse this new hope for relief.
The Needles Don’t Hurt
The acupuncturist uses extremely small needles inserted at specific places in the body to achieve effects. The acupuncturist uses needles that are hygienic to prevent any type of infection. These needles are much thinner than the needles that people are used to when you are in need of a traditional shot. It feels like a mosquito bite without the itching.
A big advantage using acupuncture depression was the low cost and lack of side affects compared to conventional treatment.
