Veteran’s Affairs Evidence Based Guidelines for PTSD

Clinical Practice Guideline For Management of Posttramatic Stress

published by the Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) /US Department of Defense (DoD).

This evidence base manual includes a section on acupuncture, pp 176, assigning a “Good” quality of evidence to acupuncture for treatment of PTSD related symptoms.

The VA and the DoD define clinical practice guidelines as:

“Recommendations for the performance or exclusion of specific procedures or services derive  through a rigorous methodological approach that includes: Determination of appropriate criteria, such as effectiveness, efficacy, population benefit, or patient satisfaction and a literature review to determine the strength of the evidence in relation to these criteria.”

Here’s the link to the full 260 pp+ manual:  http://www.healthquality.va.gov/post_traumatic_stress_disorder_ptsd.asp

Here’s the short summary:  http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/pages/overview-treatment-research.asp