Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of Xuebijing on anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis mice and its effect on the changes of helper T cell 1 (Th1)/helper T cell 2 (Th2). Methods The experimental groups included control group, model group, low-dose Xuebijing (low-XBJ) group, high-dose Xuebijing (high-XBJ) group, with 10 mice in each group, except the control group, the other 3 groups of mice were treated  with antigen injection and immune stimulation to establish anti-NMDAR encephalitis models, the mice in the low-XBJ and high-XBJ groups were intraperitoneally injected with 5 ml/kg and 10 ml/kg of Xuebijing injection, respectively, once every 12 hours for 3 consecutive days; After 2 weeks, HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of mice brain tissue, Nissl staining was used to observe the morphological changes of mice neurons, TUNEL staining was used to detect the apoptosis of mice  neurons, ELISA was used to detect the contents of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin(IL)-1β, IL-4 and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of mice, immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of IFN-γ and IL-4 in brain tissue, flow cytometry was used to detect the distribution of Th1 and Th2 cells in peripheral blood, and the ratio of Th1/Th2 was calculated. Results  Compared with the model group, hippocampal tissue damage was improved in low-XBJ group and high-XBJ group, the morphological changes of neurons were small, the morphology of Nissl bodies was more complete and the number of Nissl bodies was increased, the TUNEL positive rate of neurons decreased, the contents of TNF-α, IL-1β and IFN-γ in serum and cerebrospinal fluid decreased while the content of IL-4 increased, the percentage of IFN-γ positive cells and the relative expression of protein in brain tissue decreased, the percentage of IL-4 positive cells and the relative expression of protein increased, the proportion of cluster of differentiation (CD)4⁺IFN-γ⁺ labeled Th1 cells and the ratio of Th1/Th2 in peripheral blood decreased, and the proportion of CD4⁺IL-4⁺ labeled Th2 cells in peripheral blood of mice in high-XBJ group increased, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). In addition, compared with the low-XBJ group, the improvement effect of the above detection indicators in the high-XBJ group was more obvious, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).  Conclusion Xuebijing can improve hippocampal neuronal damage in anti-NMDAR encephalitis mice, which may play a therapeutic role by reducing the expression of IFN-γ, promoting the expression of IL-4 and maintaining the balance of Th1/Th2 cells.