Is moxibustion useful for relieving depression?

There is currently insufficient evidence-based medical evidence to prove that moxibustion can directly treat depression, but in clinical practice and real feedback from many patients, it can indeed help some depressed people relieve the accompanying physical discomfort and indirectly improve their emotional state. There is currently no absolute "useful/useless" conclusion about its role, and the opinions of practitioners in different fields vary.

When I was following up at the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Psychiatry, I met a 27-year-old middle school teacher. He was suffering from moderate depression and took Sertraline for eight months. His thoughts of committing suicide disappeared, but every day he felt like a water-soaked sponge was pressed against his chest. The director diagnosed her syndrome as liver qi stagnation and Yang qi failure, and arranged moxibustion twice a week, using three acupuncture points: Baihui, Neiguan, and Taichong. She only applied moxibustion four times. When she came for a follow-up visit, she said that she felt sleepy before 11 o'clock one night last week and slept until 6 o'clock. The blockage in her chest that had been there for several months was mostly gone. Last week, she took the initiative to invite her colleagues to watch a play. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, depressive episodes are often accompanied by stasis of qi and inability of yang to rise. The warming effect of moxibustion can just "knead open" the blocked areas little by little. Those bothersome physical symptoms are alleviated, and the mood can naturally be much more relaxed.

But more than one colleague from the psychiatry department has mentioned to me that I am particularly afraid that patients will regard moxibustion as a "special medicine" to treat depression. I have also encountered family members who were messing around and secretly stopped their children's antidepressants and gave them moxibustion at home every day. As a result, within two weeks, the child's mood completely collapsed and he refused to even leave the house. After all, the pathogenesis of depression is too complex and is related to factors such as neurotransmitter secretion, social and psychological stress, and genetic susceptibility. The warm stimulation of moxibustion alone cannot cover all causes of the disease. Some patients with a constitution of yin deficiency and fire exuberance are prone to upset and dry mouth. Blind moxibustion will aggravate the internal heat and worsen the mood. This situation is not uncommon.

In fact, there is really no need to argue about who is right and who is wrong. Nowadays, most doctors, whether Chinese medicine or psychiatry, regard moxibustion as an auxiliary means of depression intervention. For example, if you still have problems such as insomnia, heavy head, and chest tightness after taking antidepressants, or if you are intolerant to the side effects of drugs, you should first find a regular Chinese medicine practitioner to understand your constitution and syndrome type, and then combine it with moxibustion. The effect is often better than relying on one method alone.

Oh, and a special reminder, even if you try moxibustion, you must not stop taking the antidepressants without permission, and don’t blindly buy moxibustion boxes based on online tutorials. If you have a wrong constitution or inappropriate acupoint selection, it may have counter-effects. It is only an option for emotional regulation. It cannot be praised too highly, and there is no need to kill it with a stick.