Acupuncture on its own does not appear to be an adequate treatment for depression, research shows.

But the ancient Chinese medical technique is safe, and may be helpful to some patients, Dr. John J. B. Allen of the University of Arizona in Tucson, the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health.

In two previous studies, one in young women and one in pregnant women, Allen and his team found that acupuncture specifically targeted to symptoms of depression was effective.

But in the current study, in 151 men and women with major depression, people who underwent acupuncture at points that were not specific to depression treatment actually fared better than those treated at depression-specific points.

“Getting acupuncture is certainly better than waiting, but our studies didn’t provide any evidence that the specific points that were needled were important,” Allen said in an interview.

Allen and his colleagues randomized study participants to depression-specific acupuncture, non-specific acupuncture, or a waiting period for eight weeks, after which all study participants underwent the depression-specific treatment.

After the initial phase of treatment, 22 percent of the patients in the depression-specific group showed a response, compared to 39 percent who underwent the nonspecific treatment and 17 percent of the patients given no treatment. By the end of the study, about half of the patients had responded to the treatment.

In a real-world setting, Allen noted, acupuncture practitioners tailor their treatment to the patient, with the approach changing with every session based on how the patient responds. In the current study, while the initial treatment was tailored to the patients, he added, the research protocol did not allow for adjustments during the course of treatment. This may have blunted the effectiveness of the therapy, Allen suggests.

“The findings are not strong enough to recommend acupuncture as a first-line intervention,” he said. “But the present findings in combination with the other two studies suggest that acupuncture can be helpful for some people.”

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, November 2006.