diabetes is a common chronic disease that is characterized by impaired insulin secretion and insulin resistance . psychiatric disorders frequently occur in type 2 dm patients and about 15% of the diabetic patients are susceptible to depression . in iranian traditional medicine ( itm ) , the relationship between diabetes and depression is mentioned and special attention to their psychiatric problems is considered in the treatment of diabetes . this study is a descriptive review according to available iranian traditional medicine literature such as canon compared with modern medicine by using pubmed and scopus databases . in itm , diabetes is divided into warm and cold categories where the warm type is more common . emotions such as anger and grief can play an important role in creating the warm or cold diabetes , respectively . in modern medicine , several studies found that the odds of depression in the diabetic group were more than the non - diabetic comparison group . on the other hand , depression may have a role in the pathogenesis of dm with stimulation of the hypothalamic pituitary  adrenal axis , which results in increased cortical level and blood glucose , eventually progressing to diabetes . evidence in modern medicine suggests that diabetes and depression can be a risk or exacerbating factor to each other . in itm , the theory of association between depression and diabetes is more highlighted than modern medicine , which is mentioned since more than 1000 years ago . it seems that emphasis on the treatment of depression in diabetic patients may have significant effects in the course of their disease .