Dear Dr. Phelps.
I like to hear your opinion on accupuncture for bipolar illness.

Thank you.


On Acupuncture and bipolar disorder: 
If you enter "acupuncture bipolar" on Pub Med (that link will show you how if you like), you find 17 articles cited.  Two or 3 speak specifically about mania, most of the rest only about depression.  Those that address mania and include an abstract are still only discussing a few cases.  

In other words, we basically have no data on the question as to whether acupuncture might be of use in the treatment of bipolar disorder.  

If this answer strikes you as limited, as the way to "know" about such things, you might try my little essay on randomized clinical trials as a way of knowing.  It includes a brief discussion of Western and more traditionally "Eastern" ways of thinking, if you follow that link.  

Dr. Phelps