Efficacy of acupuncture at ghost points combined with fluoxetine in treating depression: A randomized study
Yi Wang, Yuwei Huang, Dilnur Ablikim, Qun Lu, Aijia Zhang, Ye-Qing Dong, Fei-Cui Zeng, Xu Jinghua, Wen Wang, Zhihai Hu
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Depression affects more than 350 million people worldwide. In China, 4.2% (54 million people) of the total population suffers from depression. Psychotherapy has been shown to change cognition, improve personality, and enhance the ability to cope with difficulties and setbacks. While pharmacotherapy can reduce symptoms, it is also associated with adverse reactions and relapse after drug withdrawal. Therefore, there has been an increasing emphasis placed on the use of non-pharmacological therapies for depression. The hypothesis of this study was that acupuncture at ghost points combined with fluoxetine would be more effective than fluoxetine alone for the treatment of depression. AIM: To investigate the efficacy of acupuncture at ghost points combined with fluoxetine for the treatment of patients with depression. METHODS: = 80). Needles were retained in place for 30 min, 5 times a week; three treatment cycles were administered. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare functional magnet resonance imaging parameters, Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD) scores, and self-rating depression scale (SDS) scores between the acupuncture group and control group. RESULTS: < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study results suggest that acupuncture at ghost points combined with fluoxetine is more effective than fluoxetine alone for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate depression.