depression Archives - Jessica Kennedy

Acupuncture for post-stroke depression

The short term impacts of having a stroke are well known, but it can be less well recognised that as your experience of a stroke unfolds, depression and anxiety can set in. Around a third of people who experience a stroke will need treatment for depression. Family members too, may go through difficult times emotionally as you all adjust to dealing with the aftermath of a stroke.

Identifying depression

When we’re in a slump, it can be hard to see it clearly. Depression isn’t only feeling very gloomy or sad, it can also affect sleep, drain your joy and interest from everyday activities, and shrink your concentration and self confidence.

Immediate sources of help

If you’re stuck feeling low, the Australian Stroke Foundation has a great page with lots of great suggestions, from trying to be more active and social, to drinking less, to talking things through with a counsellor. They also link through to Strokeline (1800 787 653), Beyond Blue, Lifeline and 13Yarn, to receive support in difficult times.

Acupuncture for post stroke depression

And acupuncture may also be able to help. A 2023 systematic review and network meta-analysis looked at this. This is one of the best forms of research evidence, it is a study of all the available individual studies. They analysed 62 studies, involving 5308 people. Their conclusions were:

“The results of this study indicate that AC [acupuncture] alone or combined with other therapies appears to be effective in improving depression symptoms of stroke survivors. Moreover, in comparison to WM [Western medicine], AC alone or plus RTMS [a treatment with magnets], TCM [Chinese herbal medicine], TCM with WM, or WM, were more effective in improving depression symptoms of [PSD post-stroke depression].”

There are a lot of acronyms there! One of the simpler statements they made was that:

“When compared with UC [usual care], AC [acupuncture] alone or combined with any other therapy (including AC with RTMS, AC with TCM, AC with TCM and WM, AC with Tai Chi, AC with WM, AC with CT, AM, and AM with WM) was superior.”

And that some of these combinations, including acupuncture alone”

“were significantly associated with better neurological function improvement in contrast to UC [usual care] or WM [Western medicine].”

And:

“AC [acupuncture] alone may be more effective in alleviating depression symptoms as compared with WM [Western medicine].”

So, some positive findings there for acupuncture for post-stroke depression.

Book some acupuncture

Everyone’s response to acupuncture is a very individual business, and the only way to find out whether acupuncture may help in your case, is to give it a try.J Just get in touch to get started.

References

Lam Ching, W., Li, H.J., Guo, J. et al. Acupuncture for post-stroke depression: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry 23, 314 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04749-1

Image by Holger Langmaier from Pixabay

Acupuncture for perimenopausal depression

Being a middle aged woman myself, and experiencing the challenges of the perimenopause, I have plenty of sympathy for everyone going through this phase of our lives!

And I love that there’s a much more open discussion going on about how this powerful transition can affect us. Often the focus is on physical symptoms that we may experience, whether it’s hot flushes or an increased risk of urinary tract infections.

But, I have a particular interest in working with mental health and emotional wellbeing, and the impact on mood for some women at this time should not be underestimated too. Unfortunately, studies have shown that women in perimenopause are at higher risk of depression than premenopausal women.

So, how about acupuncture for perimenopausal depression? Can it help?

Research on acupuncture for perimenopausal depression

Well, I was really pleased to see that 2021 also saw the publication of a systematic review and metanalysis (a study of all the studies) into acupuncture for perimenopausal depression.

The study looked at the results of 25 randomised controlled trials, including 2,200 women.

“Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression in their lifetime as men … Menopausal transition, also called perimenopause, refers to a critical stage of dynamic hormonal flux that occurs at midlife in women … Perimenopause is defined as a “window” of vulnerability for the development of depression.”

“In comparison with standard care, acupuncture alone or combined with standard care was associated with significant improvements in PMD [perimenopausal depression] and reductions of other menopausal symptoms. This finding suggests that acupuncture may be a useful addition to treatment for PMD.”
Extracts from a 2021 systematic review and metanalysis of acupuncture for perimenopausal depression

I’ve written before about how the evidence base for acupuncture is unfortunately not being well integrated into health systems. Hopefully, over time, more and more women who are going through this part of their life and finding it difficult will get access to everything that can help them, including acupuncture.

Ready to try some acupuncture?

Just book online or get in touch. Jessica will be happy to help you.

References

Zhao F-Y, Fu Q-Q, Kennedy GA, Conduit R, Zhang W-J and Zheng Z (2021) Acupuncture as an Independent or Adjuvant Management to Standard Care for Perimenopausal Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front. Psychiatry 12:666988. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.666988

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Acupuncture for pain-related depression

If you’re feeling low, or stuck in a bit of a hole, you’re definitely not alone. Unfortunately depression is very common – more than 16% of us can expect to experience it at some point in our lives, making it the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide. And if you’re experiencing chronic pain, unfortunately your risk of depression may be as high as 50%.

Acupuncture for pain-related depression

Chronic pain is a horrible situation to be in, and it can really get you down. We probably all know someone with chronic back pain, who is also suffering with their mood.

I was happy to see though, that a 2021 study concluded, after analysing the results of eight randomised controlled trials, that acupuncture can be helpful for people who are suffering in this way:

“Depression and pain are the most common psychological and physical symptoms in primary care, respectively … Pain has a negative impact on the prognosis and treatment of depression and vice versa. There is a significant correlation between the severity of pain and the degree of depression.”

“… compared with drug treatment, single acupuncture treatment has the same effect in reducing pain and relieving symptoms of depression in patients with CPRD [chronic pain-related depression] … In addition, acupuncture combined with drug therapy has a better effect than a single drug.”
Extracts from a 2021 systematic review and metanalysis of acupuncture for acupuncture for chronic pain-related depression

The researchers also looked at whether any conclusions could be drawn about the safety of acupuncture in this context, and said:

“… single acupuncture treatment has a lower incidence of adverse events compared to oral drugs. Therefore, we can cautiously recommend that acupuncture is a safe treatment for CPRD [chronic pain-related depression].”

Although it’s worth noting, as is so common with acupuncture research, that the study also concluded that more research is needed:

“… due to the insufficient number of included studies, low methodological quality, and heterogeneity of results, further studies using large- and high-quality samples are needed to confirm the role of acupuncture for CPRD.”

Acupuncture for your pain-related depression

So if you’re suffering with pain-related depression and would like to try acupuncture, get in touch to get started.

References

Jianyu You, Haiyan Li, Dingyi Xie, Rixin Chen, Mingren Chen, “Acupuncture for Chronic Pain-Related Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”, Pain Research and Management, vol. 2021, Article ID 6617075, 10 pages, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6617075

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Acupuncture for migraines has a good evidence base

Happily, acupuncture for migraines is one of the areas that has been best studied by researchers, and a good scientific evidence base has built up.

If you’re suffering with migraines, you’re definitely not alone, the Migraine Trust tells us that it’s the third most common disease in the world. Migraines affect one in seven people (Steiner, Stovner, & Birbeck, 2013), so finding something that can help, can make a huge difference.

What does the research say?

Acupuncture can help to prevent migraines, making them less frequent, and it does this at least as well as medication does. The advantages of acupuncture for migraines include that it is a safe treatment, can have long-lasting results, and is cost effective.

Here’s how the Australian Acupuncture Evidence Project sums up the research supporting acupuncture for migraines:

“Since March 2013 a narrative review of high quality randomised controlled trials and two systematic reviews including a Cochrane systematic review update, have confirmed that acupuncture is superior to sham acupuncture and seems to be at least as effective as conventional preventative medication in reducing migraine frequency (Da Silva, 2015), (Linde et al., 2016) & (Yang, Que, Ye, & Zheng, 2016). Moreover, acupuncture is described as safe, long-lasting and cost effective (Da Silva, 2015). Subgroup analysis in the Cochrane systematic review found that 16 or more treatment sessions showed a larger effect size (Z=4.06) than 12 treatments or fewer (Z=2.32). Evidence levels in these three reviews was moderate to high quality.”

And more recently, in 2024, a further systematic review and meta analysis study (a study of all the available studies) concluded that:

“In terms of efficacy, acupuncture, electroacupuncture, blood-letting and cupping, and special acupuncture method have shown better performance compared to drug therapy in reducing migraine VAS scores [Visual Analog Scale], decreasing migraine frequency, duration, and number of migraine days. Furthermore, combining acupuncture with drug therapy has demonstrated superior efficacy compared to using medication alone for the treatment of migraine.”

“In the context of professional practise, it is important to carefully choose suitable treatment options based on the individual circumstances of the patient.”

*And here I am again, updating this article again for a new study!* 2024 has brought us a further systematic review and meta analysis. These researchers were looking at whether acupuncture helps with the mental health impacts of migraines, and these were their conclusions:

“The present results suggest that, compared with Western medicine and sham acupuncture, acupuncture seems to be able to effectively improve anxiety and depression in migraine patients. And it may be more effective in improving SF36-mental health [Short Form 36 Mental Health], VAS [Visual Analog Scale]and MSQ [Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire] than [sham] acupuncture or Western medicine. The results of this study need to be verified by higher quality RCTs [randomized controlled trials].”

How well accepted is this evidence?

The evidence is strong enough that in the UK, NICE recommends acupuncture for migraine prevention.

(NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, is the UK’s governmental body which issues recommendations to health professionals about all medical interventions – including pharmaceuticals and surgery. Their recommendations are based on their assessment of the evidence for efficacy and cost effectiveness.)

How does acupuncture for migraines work?

Chinese Medicine thinks about this in terms of rebalancing your Qi, your vital energy.

From a Western scientific perspective, the mechanisms of action aren’t yet clear, but there is all sorts of interesting research going on. Mark Bovey, of the UK’s Acupuncture Research Resource Centre, describes research results so far for the various ways acupuncture may work to reduce migraines in this interesting article.

What will my treatment look like?

My approach puts you at the heart of your treatment. We’ll discuss your health holistically and in detail, to get a really clear idea of what is happening and how best to approach it. Your treatment plan will be uniquely tailored to you as an individual.

The best approach for treating your migraines with acupuncture will vary with your specific needs, but acupuncture points on the feet are likely to be relevant, to start to ease the stress which Chinese Medicine would often see as one of the roots of your headaches.