Acupuncture, Counseling Help Treat Depression

Combining acupuncture or counselling with medications can help people cope with severe depression, a new study has found. The study shows that the ancient Asian therapy isn't a sham and can be used in clinical settings.

Acupuncture is quite popular in the U.S. with over 3 million Americans visiting the service providing clinics every year. There is, however considerable doubt over its effectiveness.  Recent research on the subject has shown that genuine acupuncture can relieve nausea in people receiving cancer therapy. A recent study had also found acupuncture to be effective in reducing knee-pain in people with osteoarthritis. The most common type of acupuncture in the U.S involves insertion of thin needles through skin.

The study included 755 people with moderate to severe depression. These people were divided into three groups; one group got 12 weeks of acupuncture session (302 people) while the second group got weekly counselling sessions (302 people) and the third group got usual care.

People who got acupuncture or counselling sessions had lower depression scores after three months when compared to people who received usual care.

However, by nine and 12 months, people receiving usual care also had similar depression scores as people receiving acupuncture or counseling. Experts aren't sure whether acupuncture helps people with mild depression or not.

"To our knowledge, our study is the first to rigorously evaluate the clinical and economic impact of acupuncture and counselling for patients in primary care who are representative of those who continue to experience depression in primary care," the authors said.

"We have provided evidence that acupuncture versus usual care and counselling versus usual care are both associated with a significant reduction in symptoms of depression in the short to medium term, and are not associated with serious adverse events," they added in a press release.

The study is published in the journal PLOS Medicine.