Treatment of elderly patients with anxiety order by psychological counseling combined with auricular plaster therapy

s: Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the effect of psychological counseling combined with auricular plaster therapy in treating the elderly patients with anxiety disorders. Methods: 36 elderly patients with anxiety disorders were divided into experimental group and control group at random, with each group including 18 patients. The control group was only treated with psychological counseling while the experimental group was treated with auricular plaster therapy on the basis of psychological counseling. Before treatment and after 9 weeks’ treatment, HAMA (Hamilton Anxiety Scale) and SAS (Self-Rating Anxiety Scale) score scales were used to test two groups of patients and estimate the curative effect of two groups by HAMA scale score reduction rate, then follow up and interview the cured patients for six months to observe the recurrence rate of the disease of each group. Results: Before the treatment, inter-group difference showed by general data of the two groups of patients had no statistical significance (P>0.05). When the two groups of patients had been treated for 9 weeks, HAMA and SAS grading of the two groups of patients had been evidently improved (P<0.05), and the SAS grading of experimental group was significantly improved as well (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the inter-group difference had statistical significance (P<0.05); after follow-up and interview, it was found that the recurrence rate of the patients cured in the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group, P<0.05. Conclusion: Psychological counseling combined with auricular plaster therapy in treating the elderly patients with anxiety disorders had synergistic effect. The subjective symptoms of the patients receiving such treatment were evidently alleviated and such therapy was better recognized, which means that such therapy was evidently better than pure psychological counseling.