[3] Both psychotherapy as well as different drugs (e.g. serotonin reuptake inhibitors – SSRIs or mood stabilizers, e.g. lithium, antiepileptics) have been suggested as treatments.

The third version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1980), which relied heavily on findings from studies conducted in psychiatric in- and out-patient settings, required at least 14 days duration for a diagnosis of depression.

However, based on data from epidemiological studies, the Swiss psychiatrist and researcher, Jules Angst, coined the concept "recurrent brief depression" (RBD) and provided diagnostic criteria for this type of mood disorder in 1985.

Several other European studies independently confirmed the occurrence of RBD in the general population and clinical samples.

RBD was thus included in the 10th classification of mental and behavioral disorders (ICD-10 F38.1) published by the World Health Organization in 1992 (WHO, 1992; WHO, 1993).