Acupuncture helps reduce depression during pregnancy
Reported February 24, 2010
Mumbai, February 24: Acupuncture treatments can reduce the symptoms of depression in pregnant women, says a new study by the researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Pregnancy may not be a cheerful period for all the pregnant mothers and it is found that, at least 14 percent women suffer from depression during this phase. Some of the cases are reported while some are not. These women might suffer from extreme irritation and anxiety, lack of concentration, feeling fatigued and feeling extremely hungry or not hungry at all. Some might feel depressed before becoming pregnant and stop taking their medicines, causing a relapse of the condition and for some, pregnancy itself causes depression. If left untreated, depression may harm both the mother and the baby.
Acupuncture is a procedure whereby the filiform needle are inserted and manipulated into various parts of the body to relieve pain for therapeutic purposes. This is a well known Chinese traditional medicine.
Rachel Manber, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and lead author of this study hopes that the results will be able to spread awareness of the problem of depression during pregnancy and may provide an alternate therapy to combat this mental condition.
The researchers studied 150 women whose pregnancies were between 12 and 30 weeks gestation and who were going through major depression. These women were randomly given one of the three treatments: acupuncture specific for depression; control acupuncture, during which needles were inserted in points not known to help alleviate depressive symptoms; or massage. All of the women received eight weeks of therapy and were assessed for depression at the four- and eight-week marks by an interviewer who was unaware of the treatment each woman received.
Pregnant women who received a depression specific acupuncture reported more reduction in depression symptoms than other women in other groups. The response rate defined as having a 50 percent or greater reduction in symptoms was 63 percent for the women receiving depression-specific acupuncture, compared with 44 percent for the women in the other two treatment groups combined.
Treating depression is very important during pregnancy to maintain good health of herself as well the growing fetus, and later on the child.
Source : Bolohealth