Introduction Neurocognitive deficit is present in both recurrent depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, both during the acute episode and euthymia. Objectives Identifying differences in neurocognitive functioning of depressive bipolar, depressive unipolar patients and a healthy control group. Methods This study was conducted in Timisoara, Romania, between 2009 and 2013 and consists of inpatients from the Timisoara Psychiatric Clinic, diagnosed with either bipolar disorder (n=65) or recurrent depressive disorder (n=87), according to ICD-10 criteria and a healthy control group (n=70). For assessing neurocognitive functioning we used the d2 Test of Attention and the Rey verbal memory test. Results We found statistically significant differences (p Conclusions During depressive episodes, the severity of the neurocognitive deficit is similar in both bipolar and unipolar patients.