According to the WHO, more than 350 million people suffer from depressive disorders. The etiology and pathogenesis of depressive episodes and recurrent depressive disorders have not yet been definitively established. The formation of depressive disorders is due to a combination of such factors as biological (constitutional and genetic), psychological and social. Taking into account the level of prevalence of depressive disorders, the assessment of their clinical and psychopathological features and approaches to their therapy continues.

In order to determine the targets of therapy for recurrent depressive disorders, an examination of patients with recurrent depressive disorders was conducted. In the conditions of the Department of borderline psychiatry of the "Institute of Neurology, Psychiatry and Narcology of the NAMS of Ukraine" SI: 175 patients with recurrent depression were examined, among them 74.85 % were women and 25.15 % were men. The average age of the examinees was 46.79 years (women — 52.25, men — 41.32). Based on the assessment of clinical and psychological manifestations of recurrent depressive disorders and psychopathological aspects, the targets of therapeutic influence are established: the severity of a depressive episode (mild, moderate, severe), the specificity of psychotraumatic experiences, parameters of anti-vitality and vitality, structural features of adaptation potential.