This book is an introduction for professionals in Western medicine and for acupuncturists on the use of acupuncture in treatment of schizophrenia and sleep disorders.Acupuncture has long been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in mental health and sleep disorders. This book aims to build a bridge between "conventional" medical research and practice, which is increasingly interested in the benefits of acupuncture but often not aware of the considerable knowledge and experience available, and TCM/acupuncture theory and practice, where understanding of conventional Western concepts of and approaches to schizophrenia may be lacking. Acupuncture has, for instance, been shown to normalize levels of neurotransmitters involved in sleep and schizophrenia.Contributions by leading experts from both the Western and Chinese traditions deal with: current concepts of schizophrenia, pharmacotherapy, practical experience, cross-cultural differences, comparisons of TCM/Western diagnoses, sleep disturbances, effects of acupuncture on neurotransmitters (dopamine and others), philosophy of TCM, neuroimaging studies with acupuncture, recent research results from East and West on TCM and acupuncture treatments for schizophrenia.
In the editors' words: 'We aim to build a bridge between Western and Eastern medicine. The main goal of this book is to create more understanding and to stimulate cooperation across the borders of the medicine we were taught, in order to create better treatments for our patients. What we can not achieve alone, we might be able to achieve together.'