title: Schizophrenia, depression, and sleep disorders: their traditional Oriental medicine equivalents.
abstract: Psychiatric disorders can be described and treated from both a Western (allopathic) and an Eastern perspective, which should be taken into account when conducting research. Patients with schizophrenia or depression are likely to be undergoing Western treatment when they are referred to an acupuncturist for (add-on) treatment, and knowledge of both types of treatments is necessary to integrate them successfully. In this study, the different Traditional Oriental Medicine (TOM) diagnostic patterns in patients with a Western diagnosis of schizophrenia, depression, or sleep disorders are described from a literature and a clinical perspective. The data on 30 depression and 30 schizophrenia patients from a German study are presented. Our results show that if a psychiatric group, sorted in accordance to Western diagnostic principles, is diagnosed on the basis of TOM diagnostic patterns, it can be categorized into different groups of patients with psychiatric disorders; this finding has far-reaching consequences in scientific research on acupuncture. Moreover, we found a high prevalence of sleep disorders in patients with both schizophrenia and depression, which could be explained from the perspective of a TOM diagnostic pattern. Finally, we discuss sleep quality as a treatment objective that may play a crucial role in mediating acupuncture-induced treatment effects in patients with schizophrenia and depression.
authors: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Centre for Cognition, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; LVR-Klinik Bedburg-Hau, Bedburg-Hau, Germany; Division of Acupuncture & Meridian, WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine, East-West Medical Research Institute and School of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea. Electronic address: P.Bosch@donders.ru.nl.
authors: Peggy
authors: P
authors: Bosch
authors: Karel de Grote Hoge School, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: de Rover
authors: LVR-Klinik Bedburg-Hau, Bedburg-Hau, Germany.
authors: Heike
authors: H
authors: Staudte
authors: Division of Acupuncture & Meridian, WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine, East-West Medical Research Institute and School of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Sabina
authors: S
authors: Lim
authors: Division of Acupuncture & Meridian, WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine, East-West Medical Research Institute and School of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea; Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Maurits
authors: M
authors: van den Noort
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008518:Medicine, East Asian Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: acupuncture; depression; psychiatry; schizophrenia; sleep disorders; traditional medicine