Objective To observe the therapeutic effects of psychological intervention in the treatment of depression in patients after stroke.Methods Ninety-six patients with post-stroke depression treated in our hospital from April 2013 to January 2014 were selected and analyzed retrospectively. These patients were divided into two groups:control group with 44 patients, with application of early rehabilitation and conventional drug treatment for stroke; observation group with 52 patients, with addition of psychological intervention to the regimen applied in the control group.Results The scores of Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) before treatment were similar between the two groups with no significant difference (P>0.05). After the treatment for 8 weeks, HAMD scores decreased significantly in both groups compared with the values before treatment (P<0.05), but the decrease in the observation group was greater. The difference in HAMD score after treatment between the two groups had statistical significance (P<0.05). In the observation group, the cases with recovery accounted for 61.54% (32/52), and the response rate was 98.08% (51/52), significantly higher than the corresponding rates in the control group[38.64% (17/44) and 79.55% (35/44), respectively](P<0.05). Before treatment, full compliance and total compliance showed no significant differences between the patients in the two groups (P>0.05); after the treatment for 8 weeks, full compliance and total compliance were significantly improved (P<0.05), but the observation group had a significantly more improvement than the control group (P<0.05).Conclusions In patients with post-stroke depression, application of psychological intervention during early rehabilitation and conventional drug treatment can relieve the symptoms of depression, improve the patient's compliance with rehabilitation, and promote the recovery of neural function after stroke; therefore, this regimen is worthy of clinical promotion.