Anxiety & Acupuncture

Research suggests that between 1-30% of the global population suffers from some form of anxiety. Symptoms and physical manifestations vary considerably from shortness of breath and variations in heart rate, to full blown and debilitating panic attacks, headaches, pain and insomnia, anxiety is a complex, pervasive condition that is generally treated with medication.

According to the most up to date evidence, acupuncture is an effective treatment for anxiety. Acupuncture has been shown to increase the release of endorphins. Endorphins play an important role in the regulation of physical and emotional stress responses such as pain, heart rate, blood pressure and digestive function.

In 2017, The Acupuncture Evidence Project, co-authored by Dr. John McDonald, PhD and Dr. Stephen Janz was published. Evidence included a 2016 systematic review with over 400 randomized patients that concluded that ‘the effects from acupuncture for treating anxiety have been shown to be significant as compared to conventional treatments.’

The largest of these studies, which included 120 randomized patients, found that acupuncture had a large effect on reducing anxiety and depression compared to conventional treatment involving pharmacological approaches and psychotherapy, with over twice the reduction in symptoms.
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A more recent systematic review published in 2018 found that all 13 included studies “reported an anxiety decrease for their treatment group relative to the control groups.” Three of these studies used pharmaceuticals as controls!

Check out the full study here!

https://www.evidencebasedacupuncture.org/present-research/acupuncture-anxiety/