Acupuncture Combined With Emotional Therapy of Chinese Medicine Treatment for Improving Depressive Symptoms in Elderly Patients With Alcohol Dependence During the COVID-19 Epidemic.

Fazheng Zhao,Xin Tong,Changqing Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635099

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to analyze the characteristics and psychological mechanism of depressive symptoms in elderly patients with alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic and to observe the effect of acupuncture combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment on depressive symptoms in elderly patients with alcohol dependence.Methods: Sixty patients were randomly divided into two groups. One group was treated by a set of emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for 12 weeks (control group). One group was treated by a set of acupuncture combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for 12 weeks (treatment group). We compared the curative effect between the control group and the treatment group, the mean alcohol consumption, the SF-36 scores before and after treatment, and the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale before and after treatment of 3, 6, and 9 weeks.Results: Based on the cognitive behavior model, the characteristics and psychological mechanism of depression in elderly patients with alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic situation were summarized. The total effective rate of the control group was 60%, and that of the treatment group was 100% (p < 0.05). The alcohol consumption of the patients in each group decreased significantly after treatment (p < 0.05), and there was no significant difference in alcohol consumption between the treatment group and the control group (p > 0.05). After 12 weeks of treatment, there were significant differences in PF, RF, physical pain, general health status, energy, and mental health between the treatment group and the control group (p < 0.05). Before and after treatment, there were significant differences in PF, RF, physical pain, general health, energy, emotional function, and mental health (p < 0.05) of the treatment group. The PF, energy, and mental health of the control group were significantly different before and after treatment (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the treatment group and the control group in the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale before treatment. There was significant difference between the treatment group and the control group in the scores of Hamilton Depression Scale at 3, 6, and 9 weeks after treatment.Conclusion: Attention, cognition, emotion, behavior, and physical response reinforce each other, creating a vicious cycle that reinforces and sustains the depressive symptoms of elderly alcohol dependence under the COVID-19 epidemic, and acupuncture combined with emotional therapy of Chinese medicine treatment for improving the depressive symptoms of elderly alcohol dependence during the epidemic period of COVID-19 has a brilliant therapeutic effect.

Highlights

The United Nations issued a policy brief on “the epidemic situation of COVID-19 and mental health,” which pointed out that the epidemic situation damages people’s lives and physical health and has a serious impact on people’s psychology and spirit, and causes the associated physical and mental illness (National Board of Health, 2020)
The results showed that the curative effect of acupuncture combined with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) emotional therapy was obviously better than that of emotional therapy of the Chinese medicine treatment group
Human’s psychological activity and physiological activity are a pair of main contradictory movements in normal life

Summary

Introduction

The United Nations issued a policy brief on “the epidemic situation of COVID-19 and mental health,” which pointed out that the epidemic situation damages people’s lives and physical health and has a serious impact on people’s psychology and spirit, and causes the associated physical and mental illness (National Board of Health, 2020). During the epidemic period of COVID-19, old people tend to interpret both ordinary and unusual physical sensations in a negative way, thereby giving rise to excessive concern and concern for their physical well-being, resulting in individual suffering and substance abuse; persistent health concerns may increase the risk of alcohol dependence (Salkovskis and Warwick, 1986; Fink et al, 2010; Sunderland et al, 2013). Acupuncture therapy under the guidance of the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine takes human physiology and psychology as an organic whole and has the advantage of treating body and mind together. This study is based on the holistic view of mind and body of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and, on the basis of dialectical analysis of psychosomatic characteristics of elderly alcohol dependence and depressive symptoms under the COVID-19 epidemic, carries out acupuncture treatment and integrates TCM emotional therapy into it to improve the treatment of elderly patients with alcohol dependence

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion