Objective To study the clinical therapeutic effect of acupuncture in the treatment of depressive neurosis.Methods The 60 selected patients of depressive neurosis were randomized into treatment group（acupuncture regulating the liver group）and con- trol group（near-by sham-point acupuncture group）

with 30 in each.The scores of Symptom Checklist 90（SCL-90）

Self-rating De- pression Scale（SDS）

and Hamilton Depression Scale（HAMD）

and the total effective rate after treatment were observed.Results The total effective rate of the treatment group and the control group was 92.6% and 56.0% respectively

and the difference was sig- nificant（P<0.01）.All scores of both groups were greatly decreased in comparison with those before treatment（P<0.01）.The com- parison between groups after treatment showed significant difference（P<0.01）.Conclusion The method of acupuncture regulating the liver is effective in treating depressive neurosis.