根據聯合國世界衛生組織以 DALY（disability-adjusted life year）為指標，估算全球性疾病負擔（global burden of disease）之報告指出，憂鬱症將在公元2020年成為全世界所有疾病中DALY排名第二的高負擔疾病；為因應未來疾病之發展趨勢，中醫醫療應針對此類疾病之治療有更深入的探討。 中醫對於疾病的治療有相當豐富的經驗與臨床療效，但在以臨床試驗對中醫藥治療進行大樣本的療效評估之前，首先必須克服的難題在於診斷基準的建立。在研究中醫藥臨床論文、傳統文獻及病案記載時，各醫家所列述之證型及各證型診斷標準之差異，是研究者最感困擾之處；因此在進行中醫臨床試驗前，客觀的證型分類及證型診斷基準之建立，為首要之基本工作。 本計劃為三年期之連續計劃，以訂定憂鬱症病人之中醫診斷基準為目標，包括其證型、主要標準、次要標準、計分方法等其他臨床評估標準的建立，以作為中醫藥治療憂鬱症療效評估之基礎。第一年之研究進度將完成初步問卷表的設計，並測試其信度、效度，再一步修正問卷之設計，以利後續進入正式之臨床研究。
WHO pointed that depression will become the second ranked global burden of disease in the year 2020. Chinese medicine has the advantage of the treatment for chronic disease. The establishment of the diagnostic criteria of depression will provide the foundation for the Chinese and western medical combination study. The main problem in Chinese medical clinical study is the uncertainty of the diagnostic definition. Because the low repeat rate of the diagnostic standard, it is very important to set objective diagnostic criteria for ？HH？H？？pattern identification？HH？HH. It is the fundamental work in doing the Chinese medical clinical research. In this study, we will use Latent variable model to analyze the Chinese medical information of the patients of depression. All the variables will be statistically operated with Maximum likelihood estimator, combined with posterior probability of Bayes theorem to establish the Chinese medical diagnostic criteria for ？HH？H？？pattern identification？HH？HH. This is a 3-year continuous study and aimed to set the diagnostic criteria in Chinese medicine for the patients of depression. In the first year, the main work is to complete the questionnaire design and the test of its reliability and efficacy.
