A new study presented at this year’s Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting showed that acupuncture can be a safe and effective treatment for depression during pregnancy. This is especially good news because expectant women are naturally reluctant to avoid medications and understand that the use of antidepressants during gestation poses risks for the developing fetus.

About 10 percent of pregnant women meet criteria for major depression and almost 20 percent report increased symptoms of depression during pregnancy.

The eight-week study involved 150 participants, in which half received depression-specific acupuncture treatments.