An ancient pill from China used for more than 800 years to treat depression could be more effective than modern medicine, a new study has found.
The Yueju Pill is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine formula that has been used for centuries to treat mood-related disorders such as depression and anxiety.
It originated from classical Chinese medical texts and is believed to work by restoring the flow of ‘qi’ (vital energy) and balancing the body’s emotional and physiological systems.
The formula typically contains five key herbs: Cyperus rotundus (xiang fu), Ligusticum chuanxiong (chuan xiong), Gardenia jasminoides (zhi zi), Atractylodes lancea (cang zhu), and Bupleurum chinense (chai hu).
Together, these herbs are thought to regulate mood, improve circulation, reduce inflammation, and alleviate fatigue and digestive discomfort associated with stress.
It is available in the US in Chinese medicine stores and online, with prices ranging from around $10 to $20 for 100 pills.
In a new study, published in General Psychiatry, researchers from China explored whether the Yueju Pill could serve as an alternative or complementary treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), suffered by more than 21 million Americans.
Their trial involved 28 adults who had been diagnosed with depression at the Fourth People’s Hospital of Taizhou.
An ancient pill from China used for more than 800 years to treat depression could be more effective than modern medicine, a new study has found (stock image)
Participants were divided into two groups: one received the Yueju Pill alongside a placebo for the antidepressant escitalopram (known by brand names Lexapro and Cipralex in the US), while the other received escitalopram with a placebo for Yueju Pill.
Over the course of the trial, researchers tracked changes in depression severity using the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-24) and analyzed blood samples and MRI brain scans.
Both groups showed improvement in their depression symptoms.
However, patients who took the Yueju Pill and escitalopram placebo displayed a notable increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein linked to mood regulation and brain health.
The mean BDNF level increased by approximately 20.5 percent after treatment with the Yueju Pill.
Higher levels of BDNF are associated with a better mood and improved mental health.
MRI scans also revealed that certain brain networks – particularly those involved in visual processing – were strong predictors of both depression improvement and BDNF changes in the Yueju group.
The findings suggest that these brain network patterns could one day help doctors forecast how patients with depression will respond to treatments like the Yueju Pill, paving the way for more personalized antidepressant strategies.
‘The brain networks can then be fed to the predictive models constructed in this study to predict patients’ responses to Yueju Pill treatment,’ said Dr Yuxuan Zhang, the study’s lead author.
‘Based on the predicted responses, we can then determine whether the patient is suitable for Yueju Pill treatment.’
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in 2024 about 8.2 percent of US adults 21.4 million people) had experienced a major depressive episode in the past year.
Depression prevalence in people age 12 and older, by sex and age group in the US, from August 2021 to August 2023
Depression is more than feeling sad. Key symptoms include a persistently sad, empty or irritable mood and a marked loss of interest or pleasure in most activities for at least two weeks.
Other common signs are fatigue or loss of energy, changes in appetite or weight (gain or loss), insomnia or sleeping too much, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, slowed thinking or movement, agitation, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.
Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are typically the first-line class of antidepressant medications.
Among specific drugs, data from the US show that in 2023 the most dispensed antidepressant was Sertraline (brand name Zoloft), accounting for around 16.7 percent of all antidepressant prescriptions.
Meanwhile, almost 9million people in the US are estimated to be patients taking Lexapro (generic name Escitalopram).
However, the authors of the new study note that nearly one in three patients experience little or no relief from their first prescribed antidepressant, underscoring the need for more targeted approaches.
The economic burden of major depressive disorder in the US is very large, combining healthcare costs, lost productivity, absenteeism from work and related costs.
One study estimated in 2019 that the incremental societal economic burden of MDD was about $333.7 billion.