According to American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (4th edition), or DSM-IV, and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Disease (10th edition), ICD-10, Depression is a type of mood disorders.
Depressive Disorders include:
Major depression is defined as depressed mood on a daily basis for a minimum duration of 2 weeks. An episode may be characterized by sadness, indifference, apathy, or irritability and is usually associated with: changes in sleep patterns, appetite, and weight; motor agitation or retardation; fatigue; impaired concentration and decision-making; feelings of shame or guilt; and thoughts of death or dying. Patients with depression have a profound loss of pleasure in all enjoyable activities, exhibit early morning awakening, feel that the dysphoric mood state is qualitatively different from sadness, and often notice a diurnal variation in mood (worse in morning hours).
Dysthymic disorder consists of a pattern of chronic (at least 2 years), ongoing, mild depressive symptoms that are less severe and less disabling than those found in major depression; the two conditions are sometimes difficult to separate, however, and can occur together (“double depression”). Many patients who exhibit a profile of pessimism, disinterest, and low self-esteem respond to antidepressant treatment.
Other common forms of depression include:
- Postpartum depression
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)
- Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Depression sometimes is associated with medical illness, side effects of medication and substance abuse. Depression occurring in the context of medical illness is difficult to evaluate. Depressive mood may be associated with psychological, social, biological and pharmacological factors. Depression may reflect the psychological stress of coping with the disease, may be caused by the disease process itself or by the medications used to treat it, or may simply coexist in time with the medical diagnosis.
Drugs that may induce depressive mood include antihypertensive drugs, anticholesterolemic agents, and antiarrhythmic agents, glucocorticoids, antimicrobials, systemic analgesics, anti-parkinsonian medications, and anticonvulsants. To decide whether a causal relationship exists between pharmacologic therapy and a patient’s change in mood, it may sometimes be necessary to undertake an empirical trial of an alternative medication.
Depression may be related to substance abuse (alcohol and certain drugs).
Depressive mood was reported in the process of many medical conditions.
The results of clinical studies using acupuncture for depression varied. According to Acupuncture: review and analysis of reports on controlled clinical trials by World Health Organization in 2002 the depression is listed as a condition for which acupuncture has been proved, through controlled trials, to be an effective treatment.
In a recent review it concluded that acupuncture, including manual-, electrical-, and laser-based, is a generally beneficial, well-tolerated, and safe monotherapy for depression. However, acupuncture augmentation in antidepressant (AD) partial responders and nonresponders is not as well studied as monotherapy; and available studies have only investigated major depressive disorder (MDD), but not other depressive spectrum disorders. Manual acupuncture reduced side effects of ADs in MDD. We found no data on depressive recurrence rates after recovery with acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture is a potential effective monotherapy for depression, and a safe, well-tolerated augmentation in AD partial responders and nonresponders. However, the body of evidence based on well-designed studies is limited, and further investigation is called for. (Wu J, Yeung AS, Schnyer R, Wang Y, Mischoulon D. Acupuncture for depression: a review of clinical applications. Can J Psychiatry. 2012 Jul; 57(7):397-405)
For depression occurring in the context of medical illness or depressive mood associated with psychological, social, biological and pharmacological factors acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicines may improve depressive symptoms when the underlying causes are treated with conventional medicines or other modalities of oriental medicines.
According to the theory of Chinese medicine the primary pathology of depression pattern includes liver qi stagnation, dysfunction of spleen in transportation and malnourishment of heart. Generally speaking qi stagnation, blood stagnation and fire stagnation are associated with liver disorder; food stagnation, phlegm stagnation and dampness stagnation are associated with spleen disorder, and depression classified as deficient patterns are associated with heart disorder. Acupuncture and herbal formulas are given according to these clinical patterns.
If you suffer from depression, psychiatric medications do not help, or cause unwanted side-effects, Chinese medicine and acupuncture with known beneficial effects and causing no side effects, would be a very good option to look into. Please contact Dr. Xie for further information.