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Recurrent brief depressive disorder (RBD) is a well-defined and prevalent mood disorder with an increased risk of suicidal behavior and significant clinical impairment. The syndrome is defined by depressive episodes that occur at least monthly and last only a few days. RBD represents a distinct and frequent clinical diagnosis in ICD-10. In contrast, DSM-IV classifies RBD into the subcategory of depressive disorders “Not Otherwise Specified (NOS)” for clinical purposes, with detailed operationalized diagnostic criteria offered in the appendix of DSM-IV for scientific use only. In both diagnostic manuals, psychopathological symptoms required for the diagnosis of RBD are the same as for major depressive disorder (MDD). Hence, RBD is primarily diagnosed by its duration criterion (episode duration <14 days) and frequency criterion (approximately 1 episode/month). The average duration appears to be 3–4 days.
The longitudinal course of mood...
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References
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Pezawas, L. (2010). Recurrent Brief Depressive Disorder. In: Stolerman, I.P. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68706-1_376
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