The addition of electroacupuncture and transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation can yield significantly improved mental health symptoms in women who have experienced domestic violence.
The study was conducted as a randomised controlled trial in Hong Kong, China and involved 110 Chinese women who had undergone domestic violence and had major depressive disorder. The participants were separated into two groups, one receiving care as usual alone, and the other receiving care as usual supplemented with two electroacupuncture sessions and three transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation sessions per week for 12 weeks. Outcomes were measured using tools such as the Beck Depression Inventory-II, 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, 10-item Perceived Stress Scale, PTSD Check List-Civilian Version, Insomnia Severity Index, and the 12-item Short Form Survey for health-related quality of life.
In the results, it was found that at the end of the 12 weeks, the group that received the supplementary stimulation treatments had a significantly greater reduction in their depression scores, perceived stress, PTSD symptoms, insomnia severity and improvement in quality of life, compared to the group that received care as usual. In addition, the group receiving the stimulation treatment also showed significantly higher rates of clinical response and remission at the end of the study. No serious adverse events were related to the treatments.
