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"Needling Ex-Spouses"
Ellen Tien

Acupuncture Is so popular these days that the current Journal of the American Medical Association contains studies taking it seriously. People are going under the needles for everything from arthritis to nicotine withdrawal. But what if your most nagging pain is a former spouse? The Sirene Spa at 1044 Madison Avenue (79th Street) has that covered. When Sirene discovered that roughly 20 percent of its customers were going through divorces, it designed an acupuncture program. Dr. Helen Zhang, a physician who is Sirene's chief acupuncturist, says the treatments ($55 for a 45-minute session) focus on the kidney, liver, spleen and skin meridians for common complaints associated with divorce: irritability, anger, anxiety, depression, insomnia. Chip Brown, author of "Afterward, You're a Genius," an investigation into alternative medicine due from Riverhead Books in January, said that while acupuncture can treat problems that often come up on an analyst's couch, divorce acupuncture cleverly packages a general tonic. "Given the array of anxieties that this is supposed to treat, it sounds like it's just as good for marriage as divorce," he said. "Or even a first date."