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.

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

“…As can be seen in Figure 1 , our search resulted in 97 articles, of which 38 articles were relevant, but only 26 of those satisfied the inclusion criteria and were, thus, eligible for inclusion in this review. Of the 26, 7 were randomized controlled trials [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], 12 were case studies [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ], and 7 were review studies [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ]. The total number of patients with schizophrenia that received acupuncture treatment in all randomized controlled trials and case studies together was n = 1181.…”

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

“…As can be seen in Figure 1, our search resulted in 97 articles, of which 38 articles were relevant, but only 26 of those 38 satisfied the inclusion criteria and were, thus, eligible for inclusion in this review. Of the 26, 7 were randomized controlled trials [32][33][34][35][36][37][38], 12 were case studies [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50], and 7…”

“…Another typical methodological limitation of conducting acupuncture research on patients with schizophrenia and co-morbid sleep disorders is the heterogeneity of this patient group [76,77], which makes investigating the efficacy and developing the most optimal treatment difficult. This forms a problem when clinically described according to Western medicine diagnostics [60,78], as well as when clinically described according to Eastern medicine diagnostics [37]. In the acupuncture research literature, this methodological problem is referred to as "The Fruit-Basket Problem" [79].…”

Associação Entre Distúrbios Do Sono E Doenças Crônicas Em Pacientes Do Sistema Único De Saúde

“…Adicionalmente, em adultos mais velhos com baixa qualidade de sono, foi notado que comparados às perturbações diárias diurnas, as perturbações diárias noturnas são mais propensas. Esses achados são confirmados por Bosh et al 39 e semelhante ao presente estudo, encontrou prevalência de 80% dos pacientes depressivos que tinham distúrbios do sono.…”