Why Some People Turn to Acupuncture for Drug Addiction

Acupuncture is an important treatment modality in manipulating and balancing Yin and Yang. In its original form, acupuncture was based on the principles of traditional oriental medicine. In oriental medicine, health is understood in terms of a vital force or energy called ‘Qi’, a metaphysical concept, which circulates between the organs along hypothesized channels called meridians. On these ‘meridians’, there are 365 designated acupuncture points that can be used for stimulation through needles or ‘moxibustion’ to balance and harmonize Yin and Yang by relieving blockages in the flow of ‘Qi’.

As a young man growing up in the South Bronx at the time, Carlos Alvarez remembers stepping over addicts nodding out with needles in their arms in the street. His neighborhood was a few square miles “menaced” by 20,000 drug addicts and 9,500 gang members, The New York Times reported back then. The article describes how to quit drinking or at least cut back an utter breakdown of services, in which homes had no heat and people gathered at fire hydrants for clean water in the dead of winter. The borough’s primarily black and Hispanic residents faced long waits and commutes for drug treatment, despite having one of the highest drug-addiction rates in the city.

These findings are intriguing in light of the fact that recent clinical studies have brought the search for the difference between body and auricular points in the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of drug addiction. This study aims to review experimental studies examining the effects of acupuncture on addiction. Research and review articles on acupuncture treatment of substance abuse published between January 2000 and September 2014 were searched using the databases ISI Web of Science Core Collection and EBSCO’s MEDLINE Complete. Clinical trial studies on the efficacy of acupuncture therapy for substance abuse were classified according to substance , and their treatment protocols, assessments, and findings were examined.

Effects of acupuncture on psychological symptoms associated with drug addiction

Chang et al. found significant effects of acupuncture but not of relaxation on cravings in their randomized study. The acupuncture group did however receive twice as many intervention sessions as the relaxation group making the interpretation of effects difficult. Though acupuncture proves to have great potential in aiding patients who are struggling with addiction, it should be understood that it is not a cure. To be truly successful in overcoming addiction, individuals should seek out additional mental health treatment. Acupuncture treatments should be seen as a beneficial tool toward recovery, a potential adjunct treatment to other more formal methods and mental health treatment, never a stand-alone. However, if you or a loved one are struggling with addiction or the symptoms of drug withdrawal, then seeking out acupuncture treatment might prove beneficial in reducing your symptoms and cravings.

• Katurah Bryant, RN, LMFT, founder and director of the acupuncture program at the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of CT Mental Health Center.
• The effect of electroacupuncture on extinction responding of heroin-seeking behavior and FosB expression in the nucleus accumbens core.
• Dr. Wen was unaware that some patients were also heroin, opium, morphine, alcohol, and/or nicotine dependent.
• This review covered a wide body of Chinese and English research investigations into the use of acupuncture for the treatment of opiate dependence from the early 1970s up to 2011.

In addition, it is notable that some of the acupuncture points can bear special or specific curative effect on certain diseases. For example, Dazhui (GV.14) abates fever and Zhiyin (BL.67) rectifies the position of fetus . In another instance, Lincoln Memorial Hospital was opened in 1974, as the first acupuncture detoxification clinic in the U.S. Acupuncture treatment results were so good among patients, the hospital dropped all methadone treatments that were previously being used. Acupuncture is a beneficial treatment that far surpasses the use of methadone.

In July 2009, for the first time, voluntary acupuncture training was offered to incoming addictions fellows and psychology interns from Yale University School of Medicine. Bryant led the training along with John Antonucci, MD of the Newington, Connecticut VA Medical Center. It takes only a minute or two to insert the paper-thin needles into each ear. At SATU, clients then sit silently for thirty minutes or more in the soft, black chairs with matching footstools in the acupuncture room. Most clients close their eyes; some fall into a meditative state that Bryant calls “needle sleep.”

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Han JS, Ding XZ, Fan SG. The frequency as the cardinal determinant for electroacupuncture analgesia to be reversed by opioid antagonists. Niu C, Hao H, Lu J, Li L, Han Z, Tu Y. A novel Uni-acupoint electroacupuncture stimulation method for pain relief. Most studies did not mention adverse effects or events, few studies described the monitoring of safety, and only 2 studies reported adverse events including slight bleeding, mild nausea, dizziness, and mild dry mouth. Ten studies involving 1034 subjects were enrolled, of which 711 cases were from China, 200 were from the USA, 83 were from the UK, and 40 were from Iran. We look forward to helping you overcome your addiction through the healing benefits of acupuncture. Millions of people are overweight or obese due to an unhealthy relationship with food.

Further, acupuncture treatment showed potential for preventing relapse and reducing the severity of withdrawal symptoms. In most of the reviewed studies, the outcome measures included attendance rate, craving scale, and opiate withdrawal symptoms. Seven studies [43, 45–48, 50, 51] provided evidence for acupuncture as treatment for opiate addiction whereas 3 studies were against the use of acupuncture to treat opiate addiction. Using acupuncture for addiction began in the early 1970s in China when a physician observed that acupuncture provided a reduction in withdrawal symptoms for people who abused opiates. Acupuncturists found that inserting and manipulating meridian points could possibly help reduce cortisol and balance dopamine levels to decrease withdrawal symptoms and cravings that come from drug and alcohol detox.

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In 1997, the National Institutes of Health accepted acupuncture therapy as an acceptable procedure complementary to Western medicine . Evidence for its therapeutic effects comes mainly from clinical practice and research into pain control, fibromyalgia, headaches, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and depression . Acupuncture therapy can be administered using either manual insertion of needles or electroacupuncture , a mild electrical stimulation of acupoints. Extended acupuncture methods may involve finger pressure and laser therapy . Acupuncture is increasingly becoming a popular method for controlling a number of different types of addictions. The addictions can vary from hard drugs to milder substances such as nicotine.

Liver – The liver ear point helps with blood purification and detoxification. None of the studies mentioned the use of blinding on clinicians, subjects, or the raters of study outcomes. Flow diagram showing the number of studies included and excluded from the systematic review. The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations evaluates quality of care provided by healthcare organizations. If you or a loved one is struggling with drug or alcohol abuse, call us for a free, confidential consultation.

2. Diagnostic Criteria and Characteristics of Participants

Bergdahl L, Berman AH, Haglund K. Patients’ experience of auricular acupuncture during protracted withdrawal. If you’re living with addiction, trauma what it is like living in a sober house or both, NADA acupuncture could help promote healing and recovery. NADA has even stated that the protocol is safe for those who are pregnant.

According to the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, illness results from an imbalance of energy flow within these meridians. Acupuncture was developed according to the principle that human bodily functions are controlled by the “meridian” and “Qi” systems. There are 365 designated acupuncture points located along these meridians. Acupuncture stimulates the points located on “meridians” along which Qi flows, breaking the blockage, and subsequently restoring the flow of energy and healthy body functioning . The results indicate that symptoms of anxiety and sleeping problems showed both short and long term improvement. There were no significant interaction effects for either BAI or ISI, suggesting that improvements in anxiety symptoms and sleeping problems were comparable across the three groups and effect sizes were small.

Being overweight leads to all kinds of health problems from heart disease to diabetes. Because food can be just as addicting as any of the substances listed above. Some drugs are particularly habit forming, such as opioids that can lead to more serious substance abuse. Drug addiction can encompass a wide range of legal and illegal substances and medications.

EA at the combination Zusanli and Neiguan prevented sensitization of the mesocorticolimbic pathway induced by ethanol in mice and modulated both the expression of the protein homer1A and glutamatergic plasticity . EA at Zusanli could reduce voluntary intake of ethanol, but not sucrose, in rats and 100 Hz EA treatment at Zusanli effectively reduces preference for ethanol and its consumption in rats . In one study, 2 Hz EA at Zusanli and Neiguan or 100 Hz EA at Dazhui and Baihui inhibited CB1R upregulation in ethanol-withdrawn mice . The behavioral effects of 2 Hz EA at Dazhui and Baihui , but not 100 Hz EA at Zusanli and Neiguan , depended on extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling . In the studies included in the review, several used a fixed set of acupoints or sites on their subjects and 1 study allowed some flexibility and needled additional points based on the symptom presentation of individual subjects. In China, the acupoints of Zusanli , Sanyinjiao , Hegu , and Neiguan were most frequently used for the treatment of opiate addiction.

5. Mechanism of action of acupuncture as means of detoxification

Authors are grateful to Dr. Xu Min who is mainly responsible for a meta analysis on the use of acupuncture for Heroin withdrawal syndrome, quoted in Section I of this manuscript. The review project was supported by the “Beat-drug Fund” of the Hong Kong Government. The review was started when Dr. Xu Min worked under 4 ‘mocktail’ recipes for ulcerative colitis the Institute of Chinese Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. According to the Fagerstrom nicotine dependence test, 33% of participants were severe, 36% were moderate, and 31% mild. For the degree of motivation to quit smoking, 32.9% of participants were either prepared or determined to take action.

People who try to withdraw from drugs and alcohol on their own without the help of professionals are likely to relapse because they want to stop the physical or psychological withdrawal symptoms that can come with it. Acupuncture is the practice of using very fine, sterilized needles — the thickness of a hair — at pressure points to stimulate parts of the nervous system. The needles are inserted into specific places to unblock a blockage, move blood flow, and promote overall balance in the body.

Acupuncture normalizes the release of accumbal dopamine during the withdrawal period and after the ethanol challenge in chronic ethanol-treated rats. Montazeri K, Farahnakian M, Saghaei M. The effect of acupuncture on the acute withdrawal symptoms from rapid opiate detoxification. Meade CS, Lukas SE, McDonald LJ, Fitzmaurice GM, Eldridge JA, Merrill N, et al. A randomized trial of transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation as adjunctive treatment for opioid detoxification. Effect of acupuncture on behavioral hyperactivity and dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens in rats sensitized to morphine. Bonnette ML. Auricular transcutaneous electrical neuro-stimulation, addiction education, behavioral training, coaching support and the nicotine addiction treatment process.