Acupuncture as Add-On Treatment of the Positive, Negative, and Cognitive Symptoms of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder that has a large impact on patients’ lives. In addition to Western medicine, the use of additional treatments, such as acupuncture, in treating the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms is increasing. Methods: We conducted a systematic review on the use of acupuncture as an add-on treatment for patients with schizophrenia that are in regular care, with a special focus on the treatment of the often accompanying sleep disorders. In this study, we searched the Medline, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and ERIC databases with a cut-off date of 31 December 2017, thereby following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) protocol. Results: Our search resulted in 26 eligible studies with 1181 patients with schizophrenia who received acupuncture treatment. Most studies showed limited evidence for the use of acupuncture as add-on therapy in the treatment of the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms, but beneficial effects have been reported in the treatment of the accompanying sleep disorders. Conclusions: Limited evidence was found for the use of acupuncture as add-on therapy in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia; however, positive results were found in the treatment of sleep disorders, but this result needs to be confirmed in large, randomized, controlled trials.

Gender Differences in Manual, Electro, and Laser Acupuncture

“…Moreover, the neural results showed greater brain activation in numerous brain areas in women than men [14]. Gender-specific differences in response to manual acupuncture have the necessary implications for the acupuncture treatment of patients with psychiatric disorders, such as depression [21] and schizophrenia [22]. Gender differences should also be taken into account for depression, especially in TCM diagnosis.…”

Scalp Acupuncture and Mental Disorders

“…Most studies suggested limited evidence on the use of acupuncture as adjuvant treatment along with antipsychotic medication. However, a general significant improvement in sleep quality and extrapyramidal side effects has been observed in psychotic patients receiving acupuncture treatment [35,39].…”

Geschlechtsunterschiede bei der Akupunkturbehandlung von Patienten mit Depressionen

“…Wegen dieser methodologischen Limitierungen müssen die Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerungen dieser Arbeit mit Vorsicht betrachtet werden, da sie in zukünftigen Studien noch mit größeren Stichproben und besseren methodologischen Verfahren repliziert werden müssen. Außerdem wäre es empfehlenswert, die verschiedenen östlichen diagnostischen Muster, neben der westlichen Diagnose, zu beschreiben [25]. In einer sogenannten Big-Data-Studie könnte man die Daten darüber hinaus auch nach verschiedenen östlichen medizinischen diagnostischen Mustern analysieren [25].…”

“…Außerdem wäre es empfehlenswert, die verschiedenen östlichen diagnostischen Muster, neben der westlichen Diagnose, zu beschreiben [25]. In einer sogenannten Big-Data-Studie könnte man die Daten darüber hinaus auch nach verschiedenen östlichen medizinischen diagnostischen Mustern analysieren [25].…”