DELAWARE, United States (AP) — Sometimes it’s hard for Sandra Bauer to stop shaking.

The 56-year-old Dover resident struggles with anxiety that can be hard to control. She takes medication and sees a specialist from Connections Community Support Programs’ Assertive Community Treatment team in Dover every month.

Last Tuesday, however, it was as if all that stress disappeared. Bauer felt at peace. Her mind was calm. But it wasn’t medication that helped her feel at ease. It was five needles carefully positioned in her ears.

Bauer experienced acupuncture detoxification.

Known as acu-detox, the therapy utilises standard acupuncture techniques to relieve stress, withdrawal symptoms and anxiety common in people living with addiction and behavioural health issues.

Acu-detox therapy is making a comeback in Delaware’s substance abuse and mental health community. It is not new by any means, just uncommon. Though its roots are in Eastern medical philosophies, it’s been practised in modern medicine off and on for nearly four decades. Experts stress that it’s not a stand-alone therapy, but used as a supplement to a person’s treatment plan.

Starting in the mid-90s, the Kent and Sussex County Detox programme in Ellendale offered acu-detox for patients until the centre closed after 15 years. Delaware’s only detox facility, NET Kirkwood Detox, offered the treatment, but has since discontinued it.

Staff at Connections are currently being trained in the therapy to treat people with substance abuse and mental health issues. It’s just another tool in their toolbox, said Cathy McKay, Connections’ president and chief executive officer.

The state’s drug epidemic has prompted officials to get creative with treatment options while securing millions of dollars in funding to counter the rising tide of drug use.

While acupuncture can be done on any part of the body, acu-detox is a treatment specifically concentrated in the ears. Therapy is typically done with a group, but it can be useful in a one-on-one situation.

“The ear is a microcosm of the whole body,” explained Tita Gontang, a social worker for the state, acupuncturist and licensed acu-detox trainer.

The inner ear has five points that connect to bodily responses throughout the whole body, she said. The points are linked to “shen men”, the sympathetic nervous system, kidney, liver, and lung.

Shen men represents a person’s chi, Gontang said, or their positive and negative energy. The sympathetic nervous system connects to a person’s fight or flight response and the kidney, liver and lungs represent organs that filter the body of toxins.

When touched by a needle, each point releases stress. The needles used to stimulate those points are fine and stainless steel – as thin as a strand of hair.

Think of the ear as a clock, Gontang said. An acu-detox specialist will place needles in the areas of 12 o’clock, 3, 6 and 12. They stay in the ear for about 30 to 45 minutes and fall out on their own.

Cheyenne Luzader, the integrative health coordinator for Beebe Healthcare, has been leading a small acu-detox program for smoking cessation over the last six or seven years.

In terms of addiction, nicotine is one of the most difficult to stop, she said. Luzader works with as many 10 patients a year for eight weeks.

“It’s part of a whole other protocol. Acupuncture is just one of the coping mechanisms,” she said.

Even so, Stephanie Raffer, a 35-year smoker, credits Luzader’s acu-detox with helping her finally break the habit. Nicotine lozenges and other cessation tools had never really helped, she said. Going cold turkey was too difficult.

She had acu-detox sessions once a week for about three months.

“You kind of close your eyes and you just wander away,” said Raffer, 63, of Rehoboth. “I found it very relaxing, which helped keep me from reaching for my cigarettes.”