Acupuncture treatment of schizophrenia: report on three cases.
The authors conducted a 9-week blind controlled study of the effects of acupuncture on schizophrenic illness in three patients on an inpatient ward of a psychiatric hospital. This paitents were used as their own controls. The authors compared the effects of acupuncture, pseudo-acupuncture (random needling), and no treatment control periods. Two patients who had had florid schizophrenic symptoms responded positively to true acupuncture treatment and negatively to pseudo-acupuncture. The third patient, whose symptoms were primarily affective-depressive, showed no significant response to treatment. The authors explore the mechanisms thought to be involved in the etiology of schizophrenia, focusing on the cortical arousal hypothesis.
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000628:therapy; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012154:Reticular Formation / Q000503:physiopathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012919:Social Behavior