Many people ask: can I just do acupuncture? or can I just do herbs? The answer we generally provide is “yes”, but the results are better when you combine both. In this study they found just that. There is a synergy between the two. When clincally depressed patients utilized both acupuncture and herbal medicine, their depression scores substantially improved over those that used herbal medicine alone.
 
The authors concluded that “Acupuncture plus TCM medication may show satisfactory results for mental depression, indicating that a synergic action may exist between acupuncture and TCM medication.”
 
J Tradit Chin Med. 2007 Sep;27(3):166-9.Links