Abstract: At present, the main reason for the lagging development of emotional disease theory and the backward development of targeted drugs is the lack of suitable and effective animal models, and model evaluation is the key and difficult point in the preparation of emotional disease animal models. The theory of syndrome element differentiation in traditional Chinese medicine is closely matched with the theory of behavioral elements in animal behavior, which is expected to bring theoretical changes and methodological progress in related fields. Based on this background, this paper systematically sorted out and clarified the theoretical conception of animal model evaluation of emotional diseases: guided by the thinking mode of syndrome differentiation theory of TCM, an attempt was made to establish a complete model evaluation system. It also pointed out the realization path of animal model evaluation of emotional disease based on syndrome element differentiation theory: collection of behavioral elements in natural state and analysis of time sequence, phenotypic identification of abnormal behaviors under stress state, and equivalent transformation of model animal syndrome discrimination.