J Tradit Chin Med. 2007 Sep;27(3):166-9.

A controlled study on treatment of mental depression by acupuncture plus TCM medication.
He Q, Zhang J, Tang Y.

Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the therapeutic effect and safety of acupuncture plus TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) medication for treatment of mental depression. METHOD: 61 cases of mental depression were randomly divided into a treatment group of 30 cases and a control group of 31 cases. The former group was treated by acupuncture plus TCM medication, and the latter with TCM medication alone. The Hamilton Mental Depression (HAMD) scoring system was adopted to evaluate the therapeutic effects, and the Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS) was used to evaluate the adverse reactions. RESULTS: The treatment group was superior to the control group in the total effective effect (P<0.05), with a significant difference in the HAMD score before and after treatment between the 2 groups (P<0.01). There were marked differences in the reducing rate of HAMD score at the end of the second and sixth week of the treatment between the 2 groups (P<0.05) and the difference was very obvious at the end of the fourth week (P<0.01). No remarkable difference was found in adverse reactions between the 2 groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture plus TCM medication may show satisfactory results for mental depression, indicating that a synergic action may exist between acupuncture and TCM medication.

J Affect Disord. 2007 Jan;97(1-3):13-22. Epub 2006 Aug 8.

A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of acupuncture in the treatment of depression.
Leo RJ, Ligot JS Jr.

Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Erie County Medical Center, 462 Grider Street, Buffalo, NY 14215, United States. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture has become a popular complementary and alternative treatment approach. This review examined the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effects of acupuncture treatment of depression. METHODS: RCTs of the treatment of depression with acupuncture were located using MEDLINE, Allied and Complementary Medicine and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. The methodology of RCTs was assessed using the Jadad criteria, and elements of research design, i.e., randomization, blinding, assessment of attrition rates, were quantified for systematic comparisons among studies. RESULTS: Among the 9 RCTs examined, five were deemed to be of low quality based upon Jadad criteria. The odds ratios derived from comparing acupuncture with control conditions within the RCTs suggests some evidence for the utility of acupuncture in depression. General trends suggest that acupuncture modalities were as effective as antidepressants employed for treatment of depression in the limited studies available for comparison. However, placebo acupuncture treatment was often no different from intended verum acupuncture. LIMITATIONS: The RCTs extracted were limited by small sample sizes, imprecise enrollment criteria, problems with randomization, blinding, brief duration of study and lack of longitudinal follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the findings that the odds ratios of existing literature suggest a role for acupuncture in the treatment of depression, the evidence thus far is inconclusive. However, efforts are being made to standardize complementary approaches to treat depression, and further systematized research into their use is warranted.