Alternative Mental Health Treatments for Chinese (Part 3): Acupuncture

Author: Jackie Chan, Psy.D. 陳曉洋博士

Acupuncture

Chinese acupuncture is an indigenous form of needle therapy working by stimulating the selected acupoints of the human body with benign needle insertion in order to bring forth a desirable therapeutic effect. It is sometimes accompanied by a form of burned mugwort herb treatment procedure called moxibustion. In addition to needle insertion, other ways of acupoints stimulation may also be included such as pressure, heat, suction, friction, and even mild electrical impulse (field, 2009). A patient receiving acupuncture usually feels tingling, aching, numbing or warm sensations while pain and intense discomfort are rarely experienced. Chinese acupuncture has been reported beneficial to the patient with different mental health issues such as anxiety, chronic pain, addiction, depression, mania, and psychosis. For instance, Arranz, Guayerbas, Siboni, and De la Fuente (2007) observed that after a month of weekly acupuncture sessions their female participants experienced a significantly lower level of anxiety and an improved level of immune system functioning. Karst and his colleagues (2007) also identified the anxiety reduction property of acupuncture. They noted that auricular acupuncture has a similar effect to intranasal Midazolam (a medication for muscle relaxation and sedation) in reducing dental patients’ anxiety when waiting for their dental extraction. These researchers also reported acupuncture improved the dental patients’ compliance with the dentist, and its effect was superior to a placebo condition of acupuncture sham.

Two recent studies have revealed an improved quality of life and pain severity in patients with knee, hip, or peripheral joint Osteoarthritis after receiving three months of acupuncture treatment (Kwon, Pittler, & Ernst, 2006; Witt at el, 2006). In another study, Streng et al. (2006) even showed acupuncture (61% positive responders) demonstrated a superior effect to Metoprolol (49% positive responders) in reducing the pain severity of their migraine patients. Acupuncture is particularly notable for its pain reduction effect on patients with lower back pain (Inoue at el, 2006; Weidenhammer, Linde, Streng, Hoppe, & Melchart, 2007). Other types of pain of which acupuncture has also recently been found effective in treatment include: neck pain, jaw pain, labor pain, and fibromyalgia (Chao at el, 2006; Hantoushzadeh, Alhusseini, & Lebaschi, 2007; Martin, Sletten, Williams, & Berger, 2006; Smith, Mosscrop, Davies, Sloan, & Al-Ani, 2007; Trinh at el, 2007).

Besides anxiety and pain, acupuncture has also been suggested effective in ameliorating other psychological symptoms. For instance, Nedstrand, Wyon, Hammar, and Wijma (2006) studied the effect of acupuncture on their postmenopausal patients with concurrent depressed mood problem, breast cancer, and vasomotor symptoms. After 12 sessions of electroacupuncture, the patients reported a substantial reduction of depressive symptoms, hot flashes, and others vasomotor problems and improvement of psychological well-being. This therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture was even superior to the traditional psychotherapeutic inventions such as muscle relaxation exercise. Rogers (2010) investigated the effect of acupuncture in psychotic patients. She realized that acupuncture had a therapeutic value in improving sleep patterns; decreasing anxiety and stress level; improving physical health and eating habit; enhancing self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth; improving energy level; reducing frequency of racing thought and mental preoccupation; increasing sense of hope; reducing agoraphobic symptoms; enhancing ability to cope; and increasing interest in daily activities. Although Rogers’s study finding did not suggest acupuncture directly improved the more severe form of psychotic symptoms in the patients, their mood and anxiety symptoms were indeed significantly improved. Additionally, acupuncture was also known as a relatively effective treatment for patient with cigarette addiction, cocaine abuse, and another substance abuse problem; past research also indicated a satisfactory treatment compliance rate in the patients receiving acupuncture (Avants, Margolin, Chang, Kosten, & Birch, 1995; Gurevich, Duckworth, Imhof, & Katz, 1996; White & Moody, 2006).