Postherpetic neuralgia is the most common complication of herpes zoster， with a high incidence and long duration of illness， often accompanied by emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression， which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. The selection of appropriate tools to quantitatively assess anxiety and depression-related emotional disorders in patients in clinical settings is of great importance. This paper reviews current assessment tools related to anxiety and depression applied to postherpetic neuralgia patients from the aspects of assessment content， advantages， limitations， differences and intrinsic connections， aiming to improve the accuracy and validity of clinical assessment， and to provide reference for the management of negative emotions and the implementation of clinical decision-making.