Objective To observe the effect and safety of acupuncture treatment on refractory auditory hallucination in schizophrenia patients. Methods The 100 patients clinically diagnosed as refractory auditory hallucination of schizophrenia were randomized into test group and control group with 50 in each. The control group was treated with risperidone alone while the test group was treated with acupuncture on the basis of TCM syndrome differentiation in addition to risperidone. One month was one course

totally 3 courses of treatment was given. The clinical effect of both groups was observed. The effect in different courses of disease and the effect in different syndromes of the test group were compared respectively. Before and after treatment the brief psychiatric rating scale （BPRS）

specific auditory hallucination scale（SAHS）

and treatment emergent symptom scale （TESS） were adopted to score the patients of both groups. Results In the test group

there were 3 cases lost

the total effective rate was 72.34%; while in the control group

there was 1 case lost

the total effective rate was 38.78%

the difference being significant （P <0.05）. The patients of the test group with course of disease shorter than 2 years had a total effective rate 85.71%

higher than the total effective rate 61.54% of the patients with course longer than 2 years （P<0.05）. There was no significant difference in the total effective rate among the 4 different syndromes in the test group （P>0.05）. The difference in BPRS and SHRS scores at the same period of time after 2nd and 3rd courses of treatment of the two groups was significant （P<0.05 or P<0.01）. The adverse reaction rate in the test group was 31.91%

lower than 69.39% in the control group （P <0.05）. Conclusion Acupuncture treatment for the refractory auditory hallucination of schizophrenia is good in effect with a high safety.