In today’s society, the prevalence of depression in China is increasing year by year. It will not only affect the quality of life of patients but also endanger their lives. The generation of depression is inseparable from long-term negative emotions, which are the feedback of deep mental and spiritual problems. Therefore, the exploration of depression should not be limited to the physiological and genetic levels, and it is also closely related to the traditional social culture. The ancient Chinese culture has an important enlightenment on the regulation of depression. For instance, Dongpo’s poems, with a bold and uninhibited style, conveys the poet’s optimistic and open-minded mood and enables readers to immerse themselves in a positive mood. Therefore, this experiment aims to explore the improvement effect of Dongpo’s poems on patients’ depression.

In the experiment, 34 students with depression screened by psychological tests in two universities were selected as the research objects, and they were equally divided into the experimental group (17) and the control group (17). The students in the control group were given general psychological counseling and care. On this basis, the students in the experimental group organized a weekly Dongpo word evaluation and exchange meeting, each lasting 90 minutes. The effect of depression was evaluated by the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), and the results were observed 8 weeks later.

Table 1 shows the improvement effect of depression of the two groups of students. It can be seen from the data in the table that the depression of 34 students has improved to some extent. Among them, the HAMD score and SDS score of students in the experimental group decreased significantly after the Dongpo poems intervention, and their scores were lower than those of the control group, and the differences between the two groups were statistically significant.Table 1.

Comparison of HAMD and SDS scores between the two groups before and after intervention ($ \overline{x}\pm s $)

Long-term depression easily turns into depression, which is very likely to cause depression and seriously endanger life and health. People should keep a good positive mood and avoid depression. This experiment verified that Dongpo poems had a positive effect on improving negative emotions because of its open-minded and positive values. Therefore, we should pay more attention to the positive impact of ancient Chinese poetry on patients when exploring depression.