Depression, a psychological disorder, often manifests in persistent melancholy and inattention. Psychologist Sigmund Freud believes that literature and art can better channel individual emotional stress, so the study is based on the course of civics teaching joint innovation of aesthetic education teaching to achieve a positive and effective intervention in the mental health of college students.

This research took depressed college students from one university as the research subjects. They were divided into a control group (conventional civics teaching method) and an experimental group (course civics combined with art appreciation method), and the students were guided to improve the dissolution of depression and depressive symptoms. The intervention time was six weeks and was assessed with the help of the Self-Depression Scale for Depression (SDS) and the Quality of Life Measurement Scale (WHOQOL-BREF).

After the experimental intervention, the SDS scores of the experimental group and the WHOQOL-BREF sub-scales were higher than those of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The mean score of the SDS scale in the experimental group had a score difference of more than 15 points before and after the experiment.

The joint study of Civics and Aesthetic Education gives students a new cognition of their own emotions and thoughts, and the change of “cognitive bias” makes the depression symptoms of college students to a greater extent.