There have been many successful research projects into the potential
beneficial effects of auricular acupuncture for substance misuse.
As long ago as 1975 Wen et al compared drug abstinence in an ear acupuncture
group and a methadone group. The ear acupuncture group were reported to
be nearly twice as likely to be free of drugs at one year (51% Aac v 29%
methadone).
Ear acupuncture shows longevity of abstinence and the merits of incorporating auricular acupuncture as an adjunct to other psychosocial treatment programmes.
Compared true ear acupuncture to sham acupuncture for heroin detoxification. Those assigned true acupuncture faired much better than those who received sham acupuncture
compared true ear acupuncture to sham, both in conjunction with counselling and found 50% tested negative urines during the first month of treatment compared to 24%
compared true ear acupuncture to sham acupuncture. Those assigned true acupuncture attended the clinic more, reported less heroin use, had less evidence of drug use in urine samples and stayed in treatment longer than those assigned sham acupuncture.compared true ear acupuncture to sham acupuncture.
This course has been mapped to the DANOS standards and can be found on the
DANOS Learning Resources Database.