Abstract
Although acupuncture treatment is increasingly in demand among
psychiatric patients, to date no studies have investigated the
effectiveness of auricular acupuncture (AA) in treating anxiety
disorders or major depressive disorder. Thus, this study aimed to
compare the effectiveness of AA versus progressive muscle relaxation
(PMR), a standardized and accepted relaxation method. We examined 162
patients with a primary diagnosis of anxiety disorder or major
depressive disorder, and each patient chose between treatment with AA,
executed according to the National Acupuncture Detoxification
Association protocol, and treatment with PMR. Each group had treatments
twice a week for 4 weeks. Before and after treatment, each participant
rated four items on a visual analog scale: anxiety, tension,
anger/aggression, and mood. Statistical analyses were performed with the
original visual analog scale scores and the Change-Intensity Index, an
appropriate indicator of the difference between two values of a
variable. Our results show that treatment with AA significantly
decreased tension, anxiety, and anger/aggression throughout the 4 weeks,
but did not elevate mood. Between AA and PMR, no statistically
significant differences were found at any time. Thus, we suggest that
both AA and PMR may be useful, equally-effective additional
interventions in the treatment of the above-mentioned disorders.
