The Acupuncture Treatment of Schizophrenia: A Review with Case Studies

Introduction Schizophrenia is a severe and persistent mental disorder characterised by disturbance of a variety of mental functions such as cognition, emotion, perception and behaviour, and by long‐term deterioration in functional capacity.1, 2 The lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia in the general population is about one percent, with an equal distribution between men and women, and a typical onset in early adulthood (earlier in men).2 Many patients suffering from schizophrenia are first admitted to a psychiatric hospital before the age of 25 and then experience recurrent hospitalisation throughout their lives.2, 3 In the past, the attitude toward mentally ill patients involved stigmatisation and discrimination, and for patients this usually meant alienation, isolation and concealment of their illness.4 Today, with the growth of social awareness and developments in the field of mental health, great effort is being expended on developing an ‘anti‐stigmatic’ approach to mental illness, where awareness and acceptance of emotional disturbance informs the multidisciplinary treatment, rehabilitation and integration of schizophrenic patients into society.5 Schizophrenia appears in the top ten of the Global Burden of Disease study1 because of the enormous emotional, social and economic costs to the schizophrenic patient, their family and society. The reason for this becomes clear if the combined characteristics of the disorder are considered: its tendency to present early in life, relatively high lifetime prevalence, disabling symptoms, lifelong deteriorating course, associated psychiatric and medical morbidity, increased risk of suicide and the accumulated psychosocial damage associated with the disease.