A clinical trial conducted at the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach, California, has found that acupuncture may offer a beneficial treatment option for combat veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study compared the effects of verum acupuncture (real acupuncture) with sham acupuncture (minimal needling) on 93 treatment-seeking combat veterans with PTSD, aged 18 to 55 years. Participants received either verum or sham acupuncture in 1-hour sessions, twice weekly, over a 15-week period, with the option to complete up to 24 sessions.
The primary outcome measured was the change in PTSD symptom severity using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale-5 (CAPS-5), while the secondary outcome focused on changes in fear-conditioned extinction, assessed through fear-potentiated startle response. Results showed a large treatment effect for verum acupuncture (Cohen d, 1.17) and a moderate effect for sham acupuncture (d, 0.67), with a significant between-group effect favoring verum acupuncture. Additionally, the verum group exhibited a significant reduction in fear-potentiated startle during extinction, indicating better fear extinction, which was correlated with symptom reduction.
Withdrawal rates were low, suggesting good tolerability of the treatment. The study concludes that acupuncture is clinically efficacious for treating PTSD in combat veterans and positively affects the psychobiology of PTSD. These findings support the clinical implementation of acupuncture for PTSD and call for further research into its comparative efficacy, durability, and mechanisms of effects.
