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ABSTRACT
Objective: Auricular acupuncture was first introduced in the United States in 1974 in for use in outpatient detoxification and substance abuse treatment. We began offering auricular acupuncture in an inpatient dual diagnosis treatment program for patients with substance abuse and mental illness to help with nicotine withdrawal, since the program is totally tobacco free. This paper reports on a study to determine which patients volunteered to receive needles and to compare outcome measures for those who participated in the acupuncture with those who did not.
Method: This was a naturalistic study including all 440 patients treated over a three-year period who were offered the use of auricular acupuncture as an additional treatment modality during a relaxation group five days per week. The individuals who volunteered to receive needles (n = 367) were compared with those who participated in the group for relaxation but did not receive needles (n = 73). During the first year of the study we analyzed the daily symptom self-report of 96 subsequent admissions over the first five weeks of their treatment in the program and compared the report of those who received needles (n = 75) with those who did not (n = 21).
Results: We were unable to discover any variable that could predict who would participate in the acupuncture. Length of stay in the program was significantly longer for those who participated in the acupuncture. For the patients who received needles, those who successfully completed the program participated in significantly more needling sessions. Patients receiving needles reported significant improvement in anger, concentration, sleep, energy and pain management compared with those not receiving needles.
Conclusion: Auricular acupuncture is a useful and cost effective addition to dual diagnosis treatment that appears to improve retention and participation.