Literature review of Acupuncture as an adjunct in Drug and Alcohol Essay

Literature review of Acupuncture as an adjunct in Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal - Essay Example This study was able to establish that there was a strong consensus among clients and staff interviewed that acupuncture had a beneficial impact in terms of helping patient relax, reducing his anxiety and pain. 2. Mills, E., Wu, P., Gagnier, J., and Ebbert, J., (2005). Efficacy of acupuncture for cocaine dependence: a systematic review & meta-analysis. Harm Reduction Journal 2(4), pp. 1-6. In this paper, the authors systematically evaluated and analyzed the randomized controlled trials on acupuncture in the management of cocaine addiction. The authors were able to cover 10 databases using different inclusion criteria. All in all, the authors established that the meta-analysis does not support the use of acupuncture in the management of cocaine dependence. However, most of the trials had issues with a significant loss in their follow-up, thus lessening the impact of the inferences drawn. 3. Black, S., Carey, E., Webber, A., Neish, N., and Gilbert, R. (2011). Determining the efficacy of auricular acupuncture for reducing anxiety in patients withdrawing from psychoactive drugs. J Subst Abuse Treat., 41(3):279-87 This study hypothesized that auricular acupuncture can reduce the anxiety caused by withdrawal from psychoactive drugs. ... lar acupuncture was not more effective than sham or control treatments in reducing anxiety and the use of acupuncture in the management of drug withdrawal is still controversial. 4. Killeen, T. and Brady, K. (1997). A preliminary study of the effects of auricular acupuncture on alcohol and drug withdrawal symptoms. Substance Abuse, 18(3). The authors set out to evaluate the impact of auricular acupuncture in reducing stress in drug withdrawal patients. About 60 patients were covered by this paper with questionnaires used after initial treatment with acupuncture. Their rate of distress was measured. The authors were able to establish that there were statistically significant improvements seen on all measures for the subjects during the pre and post testing period. QUESTION 2 Literature Review Introduction Alternative and complementary medicine has long been part of our conventional medicine practice, especially in many parts of Asia and in the African region. For the West, their focus has always been on conventional and modern medicine and the adaptation of alternative therapies has not found widespread acceptance. There are various risks involved in the use of alternative and complementary medicine, especially as its applications are not supported by scientific studies and research. This paper shall establish a critical analysis of literature on acupuncture and its impact on drug withdrawal. This paper shall provide a critical analysis based on specific literature on the subject matter. First, an overview of the acupuncture shall be discussed, along with a general description of drug withdrawal. Secondly, an overview of available literature on the subject matter shall be presented. Thirdly, a critical analysis of gaps within these studies will be discussed. Lastly, a