Depression Relief with Acupressure

This is the web page that will focus on Depression. This page will include background, research, articles, how to start using the points, blogs, facebook, twitter connections and all other networking information. This page will be open only to people who are part of the acupressure study program and are allowing us to assist them to get the best personal results possible and to track their progress.

The link to the points for relief of Depression are found below. In general you should include the points for Depression along with the specific points for the part of the body or type of Depression that you are working with.

Depression

Manic Depression (Bipolar)

Acupuncture & Depression

Acupuncture has traditionally been successfully employed in China to treat most illnesses. There are several controlled medical studies confirming that acupuncture is an excellent therapy in the treatment of depression.

In one study in Italy involving 50 patients, auricular acupuncture (acupuncture treatment to the ear) was found to be effective in reducing anxiety and depression levels (1) . In another study at the Wayne County General Hospital in Michigan, USA, acupuncture treatment was given to 85 patients all suffering from psychological disorders (including depression). The treatment was shown to be beneficial in over 78% of the patients. (2) There is therefore little doubt that acupuncture is a prime therapy to consider in helping overcome depression.

Traditional acupuncturists treat the whole person rather than a disease and therefore attempt to get to the root cause of the problem rather than treating the symptoms and, like other holistic practitioners, will consider all lifestyle and environmental factors before commencing treatment.

(1)Ear acupuncture in psychosomatic medicine: the importance of the Sanjiao (triple heater) area. Romoli M; Giommi A S.I.R.A.A.-Societa Italiana di Riflessoterapia, Agopuntura, Auricoloterapia, Prato, Italy. Acupunct Electrother Res (UNITED STATES) Jul-Dec 1993, 18 (3-4) p185-94
(2) An introduction to sequential electric acupuncture (SEA) in the treatment of stress related physical and mental disorders. Chen A Department of Anesthesiology, Wayne County General Hospital, Westland, Michigan. Acupunct Electrother Res (ENGLAND) Oct-Dec 1992, 17 (4) p273-83,

Acupuncture is not commonly associated with mental depression, but researchers at Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing recently demonstrated that acupuncture may offer a therapeutic option for depressive patients.

Twenty patients suffering from mental depression were treated by needling at the extra channel points for a period of six weeks and the effective rate of the treatment was found to be 90%. At the same time, the researchers monitored a control group of an additional twenty one depressive patients who were treated with amitriptyline. Anxiety, cognitive disturbance, retardation, sleep disturbance and feelings of despair were all measured with Hamilton's scale and then analysed.

The results showed that there was no statistical difference in the response rate in the two groups. Both the acupuncture and control groups showed an obvious decrease in the mean value, and the change in anxiety somatization was considerably greater in the acupuncture group as compared with that in the control group. Analysis of brain wave patterns demonstrated that the acupuncture treatment had a positive influence on the patients’ brain waves. 

The researchers concluded that six weeks of acupuncture resulted in s decrease of slow wave delta and increased the fast wave alpha , all significantly different as compared with that before and during the treatment.

It would have been helpful in interpreting the results if the researchers had used a third control group so that a placebo treatment could be included. However, despite this omission, and the obvious small numbers of participants, the study does demonstrate that acupuncture treatment may be a useful treatment to considered to help treat patients suffering from depression, and will initiate further research in this area of medicine.

Yang X; Liu X; Luo H; Jia Y. Clinical observation on needling extra channel points in treating mental depression. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CHINA) Mar 1994, 14 (1) p14-8

Recent research has found that cerebral serotonin has anti-depressant and analgesic effects and there have ben reports that cerebral serotonin can be released by the stimulation of certain acupuncture points. Researchers at the Department of Anesthesiology, Wayne County General Hospital, Westland, Michigan, USA investigated these claims, observing the effects of sequential electric acupuncture treatment on eighty five (85) patients diagnosed with chronic physical disorders (e.g. intractable pain, headache) with most disorders complicated by reactive depression. Some of the patients’ problems were thought to be psychosomatic. However, the researchers found that the percentage of improvement from slight to remarkable in the physical disorders was 77.1% and the improvement seen in mental disorders was found to be even higher at 78.8%. The researchers concluded that sequential electrical stimulation to certain acupuncture points was found to be effective in the treatment of stress related physical and mental disorders. 

Chen A. An introduction to sequential electric acupuncture (SEA) in the treatment of stress related physical and mental disorders. Department of Anesthesiology, Wayne County General Hospital, Westland, Michigan. Acupunct Electrother Res (UNITED STATES) Oct-Dec 1992, 17 (4) p273-83,