Abstract
Anxiety is the second leading cause of psychological disorders among students, which can impair academic performance and interest in doing tasks, or even reduce enthusiasm for the course. Therefore, the objective was to analyze, through a literature review, the practice of acupuncture in the control of anxiety disorders in students, when compared to no treatment. A systematic literature review was carried out in the Portal Capes (n=1), Medical Publisher (Pubmed) (n=1), Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS) (n=1) and Science Direct (n=2) databases. The Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) were used: "Acupuncture" AND "Anxiety" AND "Students". The methodological quality of the five articles used was assessed by the GRADE system. The types of interventions used were auricular acupuncture (n=2; 40%), simple acupuncture at certain points (n=2; 40%) and scalp acupuncture (20%). The effectiveness of the acupuncture methods used in reducing anxiety was verified in 80% of the evaluated students. It was concluded that therapeutic strategies of auricular acupuncture, simple acupuncture and scalp acupuncture can be effective in significantly reducing anxiety and its symptoms in students, especially before evaluation exams. As for the adverse effects recorded, they were not considered of high severity when compared to the benefits.
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