According to ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2011) — Depression may have more far-reaching consequences than previously believed. Recent data suggests that individuals who suffer from a mood disorder could be twice as likely to have a heart attack compared to individuals who are not depressed.
Published in the journal Psychophysiology, the research warns of the importance of testing for cardiovascular disease among people suffering from major depression.
The Australian-first research, conducted at the University of NSW found that acupuncture could prompt changes in the "mood regulation" area of the brain, pointing to a possible and potent treatment for depression.
One of the major stumbling blocks to conducting a gold-standard randomised, double-blinded and placebo-controlled trial was that it was very difficult to administer a "sham" version of acupuncture,according to smh.com.au
Dørmænen A. and colleagues from University of Tromsø in Norway conducted a study suggesting that acupuncture may help menopause-induced depression in postmenopausal women with hot flashes.
Another research has shown that acupuncture treatment can help ameliorate the symptoms of depression. In general, acupuncture is believed to stimulate the nervous system and cause the release of neurochemical messenger molecules. The resulting biochemical changes influence the body's homeostatic mechanisms, thus promoting physical and emotional wellbeing.Studies indicate that acupuncture can have a specific positive effect on depression by altering the brain's mood chemistry, increasing production of serotonin (Sprott et al, 1998) and endorphins (Han, 1986). Acupuncture may also benefit depression by acting through other neurochemical pathways, including those involving dopamine (Scott et al, 1997), noradrenaline (Han, 1986), cortisol (Han et al, 2004) and neuropeptide Y (Pohl & Nordin, 2002). Source:BAC
A latest study concludes that acupuncture is effective in the treatment of major depressive disorder. The Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts demonstrated that acupuncture is effective in the treatment of clinical depression for patients who are non-responsive to conventional pharmaceutical antidepressant therapies.
