Depressed woman - choosing acupuncture or drugs?Acupuncture for Depression

Depression is a huge problem. Did you know that in the United States doctors write over 150,000,000 prescriptions for anti-depressants each year? Drugs like Abilify, Pristiq, and Zyprexa net billions of dollars for their manufacturers each year.

That’s good news for the drug manufacturers, but not necessarily good news for those suffering from depression. For one thing, anti-depressant medications can have serious side-effects. Furthermore people using anti-depressant medications can find it difficult to get off of them. Consequently there are lots of people suffering with depression who are looking for non-drug options.

Depression Statistics: Who Is Affected by Depression?

  • Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older, in a given year. (Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005 Jun; 62(6): 617-27)
  • While major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the median age at onset is 32. (U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates by Demographic Characteristics, 2005)
  • Major depressive disorder is more prevalent in women than in men. (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; Jun 18; 289(23): 3095-105)
  • As many as one in 33 children and one in eight adolescents have clinical depression. (Center for Mental Health Services, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1996)
  • People with depression are four times as likely to develop a heart attack than those without a history of the illness. After a heart attack, they are at a significantly increased risk of death or second heart attack. (National Institute of Mental Health, 1998)

I’ve written another article about acupuncture for depression which describes this drug-free approach. Acupuncture provides a surprising amount of flexibility and specificity for treating conditions of the mood and mind.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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