In Sweden, patients with Anorexia Nervosa were given the opportunity to receive ear acupuncture and talk about their experiences with it during their inpatient stay at a residential facility. This study shares themes that the participants talked about, ranging from acupuncture being a handle to hold on to, acupuncture serving as a pause button, and acupuncture as a way of regaining control.
One patient reported, "I have received/acupuncture/after meals some times as well, and then it really has good effect. Things calm down, I calm down. The anxiety before meals and the discomfort in my body, the disgusting sensation of fullness (voice shivering) disappears." Read the full article here.

Various studies show that adding acupuncture to fertility treatments increases effectiveness. "Acupuncture is a proven complementary therapy for women receiving drug therapy for the treatment of infertility. Acupuncture increases positive patient outcome rates and reduces the adverse effects caused by medications." Read the studies here.

 This New York Times article shares results regarding research from acupuncture for pain relief. “'This has been a controversial subject for a long time,' said Dr. Andrew J. Vickers, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the lead author of the study. 'But when you try to answer the question the right way, as we did, you get very clear answers.'" Read the full article here.

Grounded Acupuncture's Jamie Wolfe recently appeared as featured guest on the podcast The Heart of Healing. Jamie talks about her transition from working in theatre to acupuncture along with her focus on eating disorder recovery and working with integrative teams. Check out the episode below.

Stimulating a protocol of acupressure points - known as "Emotional Freedom Technique" (EFT) - has been shown to be effective for reducing anxiety in post traumatic stress disorder. The protocol encourages individuals to focus on a triggering memory while tapping on the points. As described in this article, the "brain regions responsible for heightened affect, anxiety, and the fight–flight–freeze response can be regulated by acupuncture. Acupuncture has also been shown to produce endogenous opioids, increase production of serotonin, reduce the stress hormone cortisol, and modulate pain."

Endorphins rise as a result of acupuncture, thus some have attributed acupuncture's success in pain relief to just a temporary reaction to the skin being punctured. However, neuroscientists studying brain scans of patients receiving both "true" and "sham" acupuncture show that: "The true acupuncture groups showed measurable improvements in the speed of nerve transmission and in the somatosensory cortex that weren’t seen in the placebo group. And only the true acupuncture groups still had reduced pain after three months." Read the Guardian article here.

Although eating disorders are often assumed to only affect women, the rise in men seeking treatment has risen by 70% from 2010-2016. Men often feel stigmatized and fear that treatment programs won't include them. Read more about this in this 2017 Men's Health article: here.

In Viet Nam, 300 smoking participants participated in a study involving auricular (ear) acupuncture. After only 5 sessions, two-thirds of the group had quit smoking. Read the full article here.

"Anxiety and depression remain two of the most common mental disorders worldwide. As further research continues, acupuncture and other forms of complementary therapies are gradually being proved to be legitimate treatments for anxiety, depression and other illnesses." Read more here.