Deep brain electrical stimulation is one of the emerging therapeutic approaches for treatment-resistant depressive disorders.This article outlines a variety of potential targets for deep brain electrical stimulation in the treatment of treatment-resistant depressive disorders and summarizes the results of relevant clinical studies.These targets include the subgenual cingulate gyrus,nucleus accumbens,ventral capsule and ventral striatum area,medial forebrain bundle,and lateral habenula,among other regions.Based on these studies,the article integrates relevant basic research and further discusses the possible mechanisms through which deep brain stimulation may exert therapeutic effects,including synaptic plasticity,neurophysiology,neural circuits,and neurotransmitters.The article also assesses and prospects the further application potential of deep brain electrical stimulation.The authors believe that the multi-target stimulation combining existing clinical research results and neurobiological mechanisms could be a crucial development direction to enhance the treatment of treatment-resistant depressive disorders using deep brain electrical stimulation.