Health & Fitness
Acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for anxiety, depression and mood disorders
Acupuncture is an effective treatment for anxiety disorders, the most common mental health disorder in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults at a cost of more than $42 billion a year.
Challenging and significant events in one's life can commonly lead to feelings of anxiety, worry and fear. However, anxiety becomes a problem when emotional reactions exceed what would be considered normal responses to a given situation, and when symptoms interfere with daily routines or sleep patterns. Mild anxiety can leave a person feeling a unsettled, while severe anxiety can be debilitating.
A clinical study conducted in China in 2010, concluded that acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for mood disorders including depression and severe anxiety, and in some cases proving to increase the effectiveness of medication-based treatments. Additionally, a 2009 study, again in China, determined that acupuncture alone, could help patients who suffer from anxiety but cannot be chemically treated due to intolerable side-effects of medications.
Resources: http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics http://www.acupuncture.com/newsletters/m_july10/anxiety.htm. Zhang (2010): "The effectiveness and safety of acupuncture therapy in depressive disorders: Systematic review and meta-analysis." Journal of Affective Disorders, 124, 1-2, July 2012. Wen (2009). "Combination of acupuncture and Fluoxentine for depression: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial." The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 15, 8, August 13, 2009.
