Abstract：Objective：To observe the clinical effect of Shumian capsules combined with lorazepam for insomnia and its effect on negative emotions and brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) in serum. Methods：A total of 113 cases of patients with insomnia were retrospectively selected and divided into the control group and the observation group according to different treatment methods，with 56 and 57 cases in each group respectively. The control group was treated with lorazepam tablets， and the observation group was additionally treated with Shumian capsules based on the treatment of the control group. Chinese medicine syndrome scores， Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) scores， negative emotions and serum BDNF levels before and after treatment in the two groups were compared；the clinical effects and the incidences of adverse reactions were evaluated. Results：The total effective rate was 92.98% in the observation group，higher than that of 83.93% in the control group，the difference being significant(P＜0.05). After treatment，the scores of Chinese medicine syndromes and factors in PSQI in the two groups were decreased when compared with those before treatment，and the above scores in the observation group were lower than those in the control group(P＜0.05). After treatment，the scores of Self-rating Anxiety Scale(SAS) and Self- rating Depression Scale(SDS) in the two groups were decreased when compared with those before treatment， and serum BDNF levels were increased (P＜0.05)； the scores of SAS and SDS in the observation group were lower than those in the control group，and the serum BDNF level was higher(P＜0.05). Conclusion：The therapy of Shumian capsules combined with lorazepam for patients with insomnia can improve clinical effect，reduce Chinese medicine syndrome scores，improve sleep quality，relieve depression，anxiety and other negative emotions，and increase serum BDNF levels with high safety.