Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent and disabling disorders, which result in an enormous amount of human misery and loss of health. Depression and anxiety frequently co-occur and further increase the difficulty of clinical treatment. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been increasingly considered an alternative or adjunct therapy for depression and anxiety with clinical benefits and low side effects.
TCM includes many kinds of treatments, such as Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage, Tai Chi, and cupping. A series of formulae and herbs have been used in clinical practice, and the corresponding potential mechanisms have been explored. A study revealed that, as two compounds of a formula named Yueju, geniposide and shanzhiside methyl ester make a synergistic rapid onset antidepressant action by triggering the hippocampal pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) activity and the associated CaMKII-BDNF signaling. As a non-pharmaceutical therapy, acupuncture has been used for emotional diseases for many years. Clinical trials proved that acupuncture is safe and of clinically relevant benefits in reducing the severity of depression, especially for depression patients accompanied by anxiety and somatic symptom. Experimental studies have demonstrated that acupuncture improves depressive- and anxiety-like behavior in rats, which is likely to be achieved by regulating multiple targets, including neurotransmitters, neuroinflammation, and synaptic plasticity.
However, the clinical effectiveness and underlying scientific mechanisms of TCM for depression and anxiety are not fully illustrated. The translational research from mechanisms to clinical applications is also limited. For individualized treatment, TCM emphasizes syndrome pattern differentiation, which is an advantage of TCM treatment but also a difficulty of TCM research.
Thus, this research topic aims at providing further insights into the clinical effectiveness and mechanisms of TCM for depression, anxiety, and their complications. Manuscripts can be original articles, including animal and human research, clinical trials, qualitative study, research protocol, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. We are particularly interested in articles combining scientific methods and innovative strategies to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and reveal the mechanisms of TCM treatment for depression, anxiety, and their complications to facilitate translational research from mechanisms to clinical applications of TCM for depression and anxiety. We aim to provide scientific evidence for the clinical application of TCM in treating depression and anxiety.
Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent and disabling disorders, which result in an enormous amount of human misery and loss of health. Depression and anxiety frequently co-occur and further increase the difficulty of clinical treatment. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been increasingly considered an alternative or adjunct therapy for depression and anxiety with clinical benefits and low side effects.
TCM includes many kinds of treatments, such as Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage, Tai Chi, and cupping. A series of formulae and herbs have been used in clinical practice, and the corresponding potential mechanisms have been explored. A study revealed that, as two compounds of a formula named Yueju, geniposide and shanzhiside methyl ester make a synergistic rapid onset antidepressant action by triggering the hippocampal pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) activity and the associated CaMKII-BDNF signaling. As a non-pharmaceutical therapy, acupuncture has been used for emotional diseases for many years. Clinical trials proved that acupuncture is safe and of clinically relevant benefits in reducing the severity of depression, especially for depression patients accompanied by anxiety and somatic symptom. Experimental studies have demonstrated that acupuncture improves depressive- and anxiety-like behavior in rats, which is likely to be achieved by regulating multiple targets, including neurotransmitters, neuroinflammation, and synaptic plasticity.
However, the clinical effectiveness and underlying scientific mechanisms of TCM for depression and anxiety are not fully illustrated. The translational research from mechanisms to clinical applications is also limited. For individualized treatment, TCM emphasizes syndrome pattern differentiation, which is an advantage of TCM treatment but also a difficulty of TCM research.
Thus, this research topic aims at providing further insights into the clinical effectiveness and mechanisms of TCM for depression, anxiety, and their complications. Manuscripts can be original articles, including animal and human research, clinical trials, qualitative study, research protocol, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. We are particularly interested in articles combining scientific methods and innovative strategies to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and reveal the mechanisms of TCM treatment for depression, anxiety, and their complications to facilitate translational research from mechanisms to clinical applications of TCM for depression and anxiety. We aim to provide scientific evidence for the clinical application of TCM in treating depression and anxiety.