Abstract: Objective To explore the influence of citalopram on early recovery of motor function in patients with acute cortical infarction.Methods A total of 276 patients with acute cerebral infarction were randomly divided into observation group and control group,138 cases in each group.Patients in control group were treated with anti-platelet,blood lipid,protective nerve and rehabilitation therapy.The observation group was given citalopram hydrobromide tablets on the basis of control group.Results The incidence rate of depression in the observation group was 18.1％,which was significantly lower than 42.7％ in the control group (P ＜ 0.05).After treatment,HDRS score and NIHSS score in the observation group were significantly lower than the control group (P ＜ 0.05).In the observation group,after treatment of 30 days and 90 days,the increasing scores of hand motor function of FMA were 4.1 ± 1.0 points and 6.5 ± 2.5 points,which were significantly higher than 1.4 ± 0.7 points and 2.5 ± 1.5 points (P ＜ 0.05).After treatment of 30 days,the BI score of observation group was significantly higher than control group (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Early application of citalopram can effectively reduce the incidence rate of post-stroke depression in patients with acute cerebral infarction,promote the recovery of motor function and improve the quality of prognosis.