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Incomplete review of complementary medicines
- Dr.Zaffar Ul Hassan (27 April 2006)
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Dr.Zaffar Ul Hassan, Staff Grade Psychiatrist Fieldhead Hospital, Wakefield, West Yorkshire,WF1 3SP
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zaffarul_hassan{at}yahoo.co.uk Dr.Zaffar Ul Hassan
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I was disappointed to see the narrow concept of complimentary medicine in the paper by Werneke et al (2006), as its contents did not justify the chosen topic and it merely discussed a few herbal remedies. According to the definition by the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2002) complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine while alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. In the first place the paper failed to explain whether the herbal preparations were used in addition to conventional medicine or on its own. Secondly, the authors also failed to mention other known complementary therapies including the use of yoga, tai chi, relaxation exercises, music, spiritual healing, naturopathy and homeopathy for psychiatric ailments practised in various parts of the world. In this context I would like to point out that there are several papers indicating that acupuncture can also work in relieving depression, anxiety and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). According to the monoamine hypothesis for affective disorders functional impairment of the monoamine systems in CNS is the cause of depression. Pharmacological manipulations of the monoaminergic neuronal system using tricyclics and monoamine oxidase inhibitors produces therapeutic effects. Based on animal experiments, Hans (1986) presented a paper to show that acupuncture or electro acupuncture (EA) is capable of accelerating the synthesis and release of serotonin (5-HT) and norepinepherine (NE) in the CNS. His clinical data indicated that electroacupuncture was at least as effective and with a higher therapeutic index than tricyclic amitriptyline in treating the depressive patients. Another study by Luo et al from the Beijing Institute of Mental Health in 1997 showed that acupuncture was as effective as amitriptyline in the treatment of depression (Kua and Tan - 2005). Further studies have shown that different kinds of neuropeptides are released by different frequencies. For example, in EA Low frequency of 2 Hz accelerates the release of enkephalin, beta-endorphin and endomorphin, while high frequency of 100 Hz selectively increases the release of dynorphin. (Han, 2004). ). Practitioners of this art have also used it to relieve headache, insomnia and chronic pain, which may be a contributing factor in depressive illness. Acupuncture has also been used with violent persons and victims of national disasters, chronic fatigue syndrome and insomnia (Ackerman, 1999). In traditional chinese medicine there is also an emphasis on exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle to restore the yin- yang balance. Tai-chi or king-fu is encouraged as a form of exercise during the recuperation phase of physical and mental illness (Kua and Tan, 2005). Declaration of interest Z.H is the Founder President of the Association for the Promotion of Acupuncture in Pakistan (A.P.A) Regd; taught acupuncture treatment to medical doctors at The Pakistan College of Acupuncture Sciences and was involved in arranging acupuncture seminars and conferences. References Ursula Werneke, Trevor Turner, and Stefan Priebe (2006), Complementary medicines in psychiatry: Review of effectiveness and safety, British Journal of Psychiatry 188:109-121 National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2002): What is complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Retrieved on March, 6, 2006 from http://www.nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/ Han JS (1986) Electro acupuncture: an alternative to antidepressants for treating affective disease, International Journal of Neuroscience, March;29: 79-92 Available on PubMed. Accessed on 01/03/2006 Kua, EH and Tan, CH (2005) Traditional Chinese medicine in psychiatric practice in Singapore, International Psychiatry, 7-9 Issue 8, April Hans, JS (2004) Neuroscience Letters 361: 258-261, Issues 1-3 , 6th.May, Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15135942&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_DocSum (Accessed on 24/04/2006) Ackerman, John M(1999) Acupuncture in Psychiatry Psychiatr Serv 50: 117 January. Available from American Psychaitric Association’s web page: http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/50/1/117 |
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