The Role of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Substance Abuse

The Role of Acupuncture in the treatment of Substance Abuse APA Although acupuncture itself has been around for thousands of years treating addiction with acupuncture dated back to the early 1970 's (Otto , 2003 . In the research I read for this , I found information stating that a Dr . Wen in Hong Kong was researching the effects of acupuncture for post-surgical pain when Dr . Wen coincidentally found that applying electrical stimulation to the lung point in the ears relieved opiate withdrawal symptoms . The work of Dr . Wen led to the discovery of what became

a hybrid of acupuncture

In the U .S , Lincoln Hospital in South Bronx in New York City began a substance abuse program in 1974 where they would replace the methadone treatment with acupuncture (Otto , 2003 . The doctor who worked at Lincoln Hospital at the time , Dr . Michael Smith , developed a program replacing methadone treatment with acupuncture . Eventually over time Dr Smith developed a simple and effective acupuncture protocol that eliminated patient 's withdrawal symptoms while decreasing relapse rates Later on it expanded to treating drug , alcohol and smoking addictions

The length of treatment was determined in general by the patient 's time and practice of substance abuse (Shwartz , 2000 . A common treatment guide would be that the substance abuse treatment would go for treatment for six months . The first month would generally be approximately 5 treatments a week , the second month of treatments would generally be three to 4treatments whereas the third to sixth months of treatment would be approximately 1-2 treatments a week

In the acupuncture treatment for substance abusers studies I read they indicated that psychological factors differences in results were very minimal if any difference at all (Zarelsky , 1976

At least one of the article indicated that acupuncture treatment for substance abusers is better suited to some substances than others (Knox , 2007 . Dr . Michael Smith who works at a treatment center is South Bronx indicated that the treatment was better suited , for example for cocaine addicts vs . methadone addicts . Smith commented , Unlike methadone for heroin addiction , which requires considerable structure and policing to guard against illicit heroin use , acupuncture can be available whenever a crack addict slips back into use (Knox , 2007

Acupuncture advocates do not contend that the treatment is for every addict , or that acupuncture alone is going to break the shackles of addiction . Its main value , they say , is to ease addicts through the throes of detoxification without using any other drugs , and then , to reduce the craving for drugs so clients can focus on pulling their lives together (Knox , 2007

The statistic that I found stated that there are more than 800 treatment centers in the U .S . and Europe (Russell , 2000

Data obtained from clinical studies of acupuncture in substance abuse treatment are controversial . Some research indicates that there is no clear evidence that acupuncture is any more effective than a placebo or the patient 's existing detoxification treatment (Kim , 2005

Overall , the result of most research I...