Acupuncture is More Effective for Depression than Usual Care Alone

Acupuncture is more effective for depression than usual care alone.

Researchers at the University of York conducting a randomised trial of 755 patients, have found that acupuncture plus usual care is significantly more effective for depression, compared with usual care alone.

Patients were recruited from 27 North of England GP practices, all having consulted their GP for moderate-to-severe depression in the preceding five years. They were randomised to receive up to 12 weekly sessions of acupuncture plus usual care (302 patients), up to 12 weekly sessions of counselling plus usual care (302 patients), or usual care alone (151 patients). Usual care, including anti-depressants, was available according to need, and monitored in all three groups; at the outset, 69% of patients were taking anti-depressants, and nearly half were taking painkillers.

Compared to usual care alone, there was a significant improvement in symptoms at both 3 and 6 months for both the acupuncture and counselling interventions. Painkiller use by the acupuncture group showed a particularly marked decrease during the trial, but this was not sustained at follow-up.

(Acupuncture and Counselling for Depression in Primary Care: A Randomised Controlled Trial. PLOS Medicine, September 2013. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001518)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.