Depression And Acupuncture - A Closer Look

Depression And - A Closer Look
By Brian Winkels

Part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is a
healing method developed over the past 2000 plus years in China
and the Far East. Popular culture portrays as pain
therapy administered by practitioners using thin needles placed
in specific points (i.e. acupoints) of the body. All in all this
is a fair portrayal, although the patient in these portrayals is
usually shown to be a bit different and quirky and not deserving
the fruits of the ancient practice. Although so-called "modern"
medicine has been slow to accept the ancient practice it has
become increasingly more "open" because it's becoming more and
more difficult to dismiss the successes of treatments on
conditions like depression.  

The specific origin of has been lost in the mists
of time. One might logically conclude that has
survived because it works and that the successful aspects of
acupressure and bloodletting slowly developed over the centuries
into a separate discipline, fueled by the confidence of the
patient in this so-called mysterious practice. Unlike Western
science, the discoveries and studies of TCM practitioners were
never documented and shared with the public at large. Rather,
theories and practices were passed down from master to
apprentice in secret. Nobody knows for sure, but it's possible
that successful techniques were compiled around the beliefs of
the Eastern cultures.

Acupuncture treatment depends on precise placement of fine
needles in "acupoints" drawn by centuries of practitioners.
Points are found along lines of "chi" or energy from major
organs that run along the back and limbs of the human body. As
with Feng Shui, the idea is to allow the chi to flow unimpeded
while balancing yin and yang. Needles are mostly placed along
the right side of the body to correct the flow of chi when
treating depression with acupuncture.

A study done in Tucson divided women with mild depression into
three groups. The first group was treated

with the recommended
therapy for and depression. The second group was
treated using therapy normally used for other
conditions and the third group; the control group was simply put
on a waiting list.

The first two groups were told they received the traditional
acupuncture and depression treatment. The finding showed the
first group had as much improvement as if they had received
medication. The other two groups fared less well but had a
little improvement.

The Cochrane Group, a scientific group that is looking for
evidence concerning acupuncture, looked into this study for the
effectiveness of and depression and decided that the
results were not convincing enough to receive their seal of
approval. Of course, the conclusions of the Cochrane Group must
be taken with a grain of salt because it's filled with people
who hold a bias against traditional Chinese medicine and unless
the results were so overwhelming they couldn't discount them
they would look for any reason they could to discount the
results.

While science will continue to study the so-called efficacy of
acupuncture and depression, the bottom line is that acupuncture
has been used successfully on a wide range of health conditions
for thousands of years. The proof is in the many anecdotal
stories told by happy patients.

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About the Author: Visit http://www.acupuncture-gateway.com or
http://www.acupuncture-gateway.com/links.html or
http://www.acupuncture-gateway.com/sitemap1.html for more
information on and Chinese medicine.

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