Acupuncture versus Western medicine drugs (antidepressant) to treat depression

The aim of the study is to assess the beneficial effects of acupuncture compared with Western medicine in treating patientswith depression. Depression is a serious psychiatric illness that involves symptoms such as depressed or sad mood, loss ofinterest or pleasure in activities, changes in weight, difficult sleep or oversleeping, energy loss, feelings of worthlessness, psychomotorchanges, and thoughts of death or suicide. Acupuncture and Western medicine have been widely used to treat the patient with depression. The following electronic databases were searched: The Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials (Central),MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, PsycINFO, and PUBMED. The summary of this report was evaluated by using the Preferred Reporting Itemsfor Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Checklist. Sixty-four journals on acupuncture, Western medicine drugs (antidepressant),and containing both in treating depression were identified and included in this review. In term of Western medicine, antidepressant may helpthe ego function in short term, and for long-term using, it may cause the patient to become addictive toward the drug. Acupuncture is relativelysafe to use and proven significantly effective to treat the depression and less side effect for long term used by the patient. Currentevidence from this summary literature review shows that acupuncture and Western medicine (antidepressant) drugs can treat depression. However, acupuncture therapies almost give none of side effect compared to antidepressant, and every patient with depression can try acupuncture notexcluding the pregnant woman.