Acupuncture helps alleviate PTSD in veterans

Acupuncture was more effective than “sham” acupuncture on clinical and biological measures of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans, a prospective randomized trial found. Shown.

In an intention-to-treat analysis, Verum acupuncture had a significant therapeutic effect (Cohen et al. d 1.17), moderate effects of sham acupuncture (d 0.67), and a moderate between-group effect favoring Verum acupuncture (d 0.63, P=0.005), reported Michael Hollifield, MD, Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center, Long Beach, California, and co-authors. JAMA Psychiatry.

Holifield said post-treatment analysis showed similar results between the group receiving Verum acupuncture (meaning “authentic” or “authentic acupuncture according to healing traditions and procedures”) and the sham group. A pattern of effects was observed.

“meanwhile [PTSD is] Although it is considered a mental illness, in some ways it is actually not. “This is a systemic disease that is caused by the environment and affects the brain and other parts of the body,” Holyfield said. Today’s Medpage. “Trauma is stored deep within other body systems, which is why we believe acupuncture as a physical treatment is effective.”

“This is not just a psychological process,” he added, noting that this is his opinion, but one that many of his patients agree with.

While previous studies of acupuncture in civilians and active-duty military have demonstrated its effectiveness, Holyfield said that improvements need to be made to “reliably” support acupuncture for PTSD. He said he needed to conduct his own research using controls. “Acupuncture should be considered as a potential first-line treatment for PTSD,” he said.

There was also a significant decrease in fear condition extinction from pre- to post-treatment, as assessed by the fear-potentiated startle response (a sudden burst of air paired with a specific image, such as a blue box). A significant correlation was found between the group receiving Verum acupuncture and the group receiving sham acupuncture (r=0.31) between symptom reduction and fear extinction.

For this secondary outcome, startle response was measured using blink electromyography, Holyfield explained. Holyfield and his co-authors investigated how long it takes for the fear response to dissipate after treatment with either sham acupuncture or dermal acupuncture, when the image stimulation, or air blast, no longer occurs. Examined.

“And we found that acupuncture was very well distinguishable from sham treatment in that the acupuncture group extinguished fear responses faster after treatment than the sham group,” he said. Ta.

This two-arm, parallel-group, blinded, single-center study recruited participants using flyers and email from April 2018 to May 2022. Researchers included 85 male and 8 female veterans between the ages of 18 and 55 (mean age 39.2 years, 47.3%). (Caucasian, 18.3% Asian) suffers from moderate to severe his PTSD.

Approximately one-third of veterans experienced moderate combat, 30% experienced moderately intense combat, and 16% experienced intense combat.

Both groups received two one-hour sessions per week and were given 15 weeks to complete as many as 24 sessions.

The study used the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale-5 (CAPS-5), the “gold standard” for PTSD assessment, and measured symptom reduction by assessing symptom severity before and after treatment. The CAPS-5 includes 20 items rated from 0 to 4, with 4 being the most severe, which are summed into a single severity score.

Regarding safety, 64 adverse events occurred, 7 of which were study-related and 3 potentially related.

Three participants experienced anxiety during physiological testing. One person had panic attacks at night. One person experienced heightened suicidal thoughts, which resolved. and 1 withdrew prior to randomization due to increased symptoms. One participant withdrew due to symptoms related to the intervention. No participants declined to participate due to suicidal or homicidal thoughts.

A limitation of the study was that it was difficult to design a “truly blinded study” of acupuncture, Holyfield said. “People know what they can get, and acupuncturists know what they can offer.”

Once this study is complete, the next step will be to compare acupuncture to other evidence-based treatments and conduct cost-effectiveness studies.