COVID-19 (coronavirus) has spread all over the world with a high infection rate. Currently, there are no targeted therapeutic drugs for COVID-19 as well as for stress induced by COVID-19. The unpredictable events of COVID-19 can trigger feelings of fear, worry, or unease in people, leading to stress-related disorders such as depression and anxiety. It has been reported that individuals, including COVID-19 patients, medical staff, and ordinary people, are under both physical and psychological pressure, and many of them have developed depression or anxiety during this pandemic. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used in treating depression with relatively better safety and efficacy and may have an important role in treating stress-related disorders induced by COVID-19. In this review, we collected the common TCM treatment methods including Qigong, Acupuncture, Five Elements Musical Therapy, Five Elements Emotional Therapy, and Chinese herbal medicine from the databases of PubMed and the China National Knowledge Internet to illustrate the effect of TCM on depression. The better knowledge of TCM and implementation of TCM in COVID-19 clinics may help to effectively improve depression induced by COVID-19, may assist people to maintain a healthy physical and mental quality, and may alleviate the current shortage of medical resources.
摘要:新冠状病毒(COVID-19)以较高传染率在世界范围内广泛传播。目前，COVID-19的靶向治疗药物仍在研究中。因此，人们对于COVID-19引起的不可预知事件，具有明显的恐惧、担忧或不安感，导致机体产生压力相关的障碍疾病风险增加，如抑郁和焦虑。据报道，在此次COVID-19的流行中，COVID-19患者、医务人员和普通人群，都承受着生理和心理上的双重压力，已经导致许多人患上抑郁症或焦虑症。中医药治疗抑郁症具有相对的安全性和有效性，在COVID-19引起的应激障碍中可能发挥重要作用。因此，本文从PubMed数据库和中国知识网数据库中收集整理了包括气功、针灸、五行音乐、五行情志、中药等在内的常用中医治疗，并阐述其治疗抑郁症的潜在作用机制。本综述旨在有效改善由COVID-19疫情引发的抑郁症流行，促进人们保持身心健康，缓解目前全球紧张的医疗资源。.
Keywords: COVID-19; depression; traditional Chinese medicine.
© 2021 American Association for Anatomy.