Acupuncture for treatment of depressive neurosis: a multi-center randomized controlled study

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of acupuncture on depressive neurosis.METHODS: With a multi-center randomized controlled study,440 cases were randomly divided into an acupuncture group,a prozac group,a non-acupoint needling group.In the acupuncture group,Hegu(LI 4) and Taichong(LR 3) were selected,and the Prozac group were treated with administration of 20 mg/d and the non-acupoint needling group were treated with needling the points deviating from the acupoints.The therapeutic effect was evaluated by HAMD score reduction rate,and Asberg′s anti-depressant side-effect rating scale(SERS) and severe adverse reaction were used for safety evaluation,and the data were analyzed with ITT.RESULTS: The total effective rate was 86.4% in the acupuncture group,which was better than 59.1% in the non-acupoint needling group and 72.7% in the prozac group;HAMD score in the acupuncture group was similar to that in the Prozac group,which was better than that in the non-acupoint needling group;the SERS scores in the acupuncture group and the non-acupoint needling group were significantly lower than that in the Prozac group,with no severe side-effects found for acupuncture.CONCLUSION: Acupuncture is an effective and safe therapy for depressive neurosis;therapeutic effect of acupuncture on depressive neurosis possibly is better than or similar to that of Prozac,but with less side-effects.