People often ask me whether acupuncture can help with stress, anxiety or low mood. It's a fair question, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a sales pitch. That means looking at what the research actually shows, where it falls short, and what acupuncture can reasonably offer.
First, if you're struggling, talk to your GP
If you're feeling anxious, low or overwhelmed, please speak to your GP, who can talk you through the support and treatment available. If you need help urgently, use NHS 111 online or call 111 and choose the mental health option. If someone's life is at risk, call 999. Acupuncture is not a substitute for any of this.
The research on depression
The most thorough summary of the evidence is a Cochrane review by Smith and colleagues, Acupuncture for depression, updated in 2018. Reviews of this kind are widely regarded as among the most careful summaries of medical evidence.
The review pooled a large number of trials, but its key message is about quality. Comparisons of acupuncture with no treatment, with "sham" acupuncture and with medication were all rated as low or very low quality evidence. The authors concluded that high-quality randomised trials are "urgently needed", and pointed out that most trials didn't report side effects properly.
Put simply, there isn't good enough evidence to say whether acupuncture works for depression.
Where NICE stands
NICE does not recommend acupuncture for treating depression in its 2022 guideline (NG222). The committee saw some evidence for acupuncture combined with antidepressants, but noted that it came from studies of Chinese acupuncture, which may not apply to people in the UK. Acupuncture is also hard to test against a true placebo, because you can't "blind" a practitioner to whether they're giving real treatment.
What about stress and anxiety?
The UK advertising regulator, the ASA, has looked at this question too. In a 2013 ruling it found that a list of claims for acupuncture, including treating "emotional issues, stress, anxiety, depression", went further than the evidence supported. That's why you won't see me claim that acupuncture treats any of these, and why I'd be wary of anyone who does.
So why do people come?
Many people find acupuncture relaxing, and that much I can say with confidence. A treatment is calm and unhurried, time where someone listens properly and you don't have to be anywhere else. For a lot of my patients, that alone is worth something.
The evidence is also stronger in other areas. Under NICE guidance, acupuncture can be considered for chronic primary pain, for preventing chronic tension-type headache, and for preventing migraine where the usual preventive medicines haven't suited, and the ASA accepts evidence for short-term relief of some kinds of back, neck and jaw pain. Living with long-term pain is hard, so it helps to know where the evidence is more solid.
The Five Element view
In the Five Element tradition I practise, body, mind and spirit are seen as connected, and each element is associated with an emotion. That's a traditional way of understanding people, not a medical claim. It's also part of why a first session includes a long conversation about you and your life, not just your symptoms.
The bottom line
- The research on acupuncture for depression is low quality and inconclusive.
- NICE doesn't recommend acupuncture for depression.
- I don't claim acupuncture treats stress, anxiety or depression.
- Many people simply find it a relaxing hour for themselves.
If you'd like a gentle, free way to take ten minutes for yourself at home, try one of my guided acupressure routines.