Stick It To Depression Blog
Resources to help manage depression or anxiety and increase your peace and joy.
Not Feeling Like Yourself Lately? Here’s What Could Be Behind It
"I don't feel like myself anymore." I hear some version of that sentence most weeks in clinic. It's rarely the reason someone books the appointment. They come in for tiredness, a skin complaint, a repeat script, and then partway through, almost as an aside, it comes...
Is Gut Health Linked To Depression? What The New Research Says
A recent study by Harvard researchers has added another interesting piece to the conversation about gut health and depression. It looked at Morganella morganii, a gut bacterium that has been linked in several studies to major depressive disorder, and explored one...
Beyond Coping: How Acupuncture May Support Mild-to-Moderate Depression
You don’t have to be in crisis for depression to matter. Sometimes it looks more like getting through the day with no real sense of enjoyment. You work, answer messages, then the day ends, and you feel flat, tired, or strangely detached from your own life. That can...
Is It Safe To Try Acupuncture Even If You Have Panic Disorder?
If you've been thinking about trying acupuncture but keep coming back to the same worry, “what if I panic on the table with needles in me?”, it's a completely reasonable thing to wonder. And it deserves a straight answer before anything else. Yes, acupuncture is safe...
The Burnout Crisis In Australia And The Case For Consistent Whole-Person Care
Every year, on the second Saturday of June, something meaningful happens across the globe. Global Wellness Day brings together millions of people in over 100 countries around a simple but powerful idea: that wellbeing deserves intentional attention. June 13th marks...
Reading a Person as a Whole: Why I Use Three Body Maps in Consultation
Early in my career as a GP, I worked from one map. The Western medical model. Blood tests, imaging, and structural pathology. Find what's wrong, name it, treat it. It's a precise, evidence-based framework that saves lives. I still use it every single day. But after...
Supporting Patients Through Opioid Withdrawal: A Role for Acupuncture
I still remember this one patient who came to me for widespread osteoarthritis. She'd been on strong opioid painkillers for years, not because she was careless, but because she was in genuine pain and her prescription made sense at the time. Her story is one I've...
Can Acupuncture Help With Perimenopause Symptoms?
Perimenopause is a natural transition, but that doesn’t mean it always feels straightforward. For many women, the signs arrive gradually. Poor sleep here, a short fuse there… until one day it becomes clear that something is shifting. By the time many women arrive at...
Long-Term Antidepressant Use Is Rising: How Acupuncturists Can Support Without Overstepping
You might think antidepressants are a short-term bridge. A few months to get someone through the worst of it… then a careful review… then a plan. But that isn’t what’s happening for many Australians. In late 2025, a study from the University of South Australia (UniSA)...
Acupuncture for Generalised Anxiety Disorder: What the Research Shows
Over the years, as a GP and acupuncturist, I’ve watched more and more patients arrive in my clinic with this kind of chronic, free-floating anxiety. Many have already tried medication. Many have done their best with therapy. Some have done both, and still feel stuck...
About Dr. Alex
Dr. Alex Joannou is the leading global expert on depression and acupuncture, an award-winning speaker, 2x #1 best-selling author, and highly accredited GP. His 40-year medical career spans 300,000 patient consultations and over 35,000 acupuncture treatments. Dr. Alex trains acupuncture practitioners globally to “Stick It To Depression” using Transformational Acupuncture.