Objective Through observing clinical effects of Western medicine,Chinese medicine and Chinese combined with western medicine in the treatment of depressive disorder (DD),the author tried to investigate a safer,more effective and obedient therapeutic method. Methods 120 DD patients were randomly recruited into three groups.Patients in group A were orally given clomipramine 25mg,3/d and Jieyu Huatan mixture 50ml,2/d;Patients in group B were orally given Jieyu Huatan mixture 50ml,2/d;Patients in group C were orally given clomipramine 25rag,3/d.After 6 weeks,Hamilton's depression (HAMD) and treatment emergent symptom scale (TESS) scale were used to assess the efficacy and safety.Results Altogether116 patients completed the whole treatment.Total clinical effective rate,effective rate of symptom improvement,and HAMD total cut-rate were 95.00%,92.50%,69.13±29.47% in the group A,69.23%,64.10%,53.22±25.78 % in the group,and 70.27%,64.87%,53.47±26.29% in the group C respectively.Patients in the group A were significantly better than the other two groups (P＜0.01) in terms of the indications mentioned above,while no significant difference showed between the group B and the group C (P＞0.05).Meanwhile the TESS score in the group A and B was lower than the group C (P＜0.01),and there was no significant difference between the group A and the group B (P＞0.05).Conelusion The treatment of Jieyu Huatan mixture combined with clomipramine is more effective and faster onset of action,having fewer side effects and reasonable cost.This method is a good way in the treatment of depressive disorder.