Can acupuncture help my depression?
The failure of conventional drug therapy to reverse depression has led many people to
turn towards alternative remedies. Acupuncture has been widely touted to cure
almost everything underneath the sun including the American economy. Reports from
China are always positive on acupuncture. Today, alternative healthcare
practitioners and every Tom, Dick and Harry have set up acupuncture clinics on
street corners for the treatment of all types of medical disorders.
As far as
depression is concerned, analysis of all the recent trials leads to one
conclusion- the benefit from acupuncture was as good as one obtained from a sugar pill. There is at present insufficient evidence to recommend acupuncture as
a treatment for depression.
Moreover acupuncture is not cheap. Each session can cost
anywhere from $80-$150 and just like the plastic surgery, nothing is ever cured in one session. One
must undergo at least 20-30 sessions with no guarantee of any benefit.
Best advice is leave acupuncture for the suckers. If you are depressed go and see a real psychiatrist. The anti-depressant medications may have side effects but at least
they work- acupuncture does not.
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