A test of the CaR-FA-X mechanisms and depression in adolescents

Abstract

People who have depression have difficulty recalling specific autobiographical information (Sumner, (2011) The mechanisms underlying overgeneral autobiographical memory: An evaluative review of evidence for the Ca R-FA-X model. Clinical Psychology Review, 3231(1), 34-48). This is called overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) and is associated with the development and persistence of depression. Williams, Barnhofer, Crane, Hermans, Raes, Watkins, & Dalgleish (2007 Autobiographical memory specificity and emotional disorder. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 122-148) proposed that OGM is maintained by three mechanisms: capture and rumination (CaR), functional avoidance (FA), and impaired executive control (X), and integrated these into the CaR-FA-X model. The aim of this study was to assess OGM and test the CaR-FA-X model in adolescents with low mood. We recruited 29 young people aged 12-17 with elevated symptoms of depression and 29 with minimal symptoms of depression, matched for gender and age. After controlling for IQ, adolescents with elevated depression retrieved fewer specific memories, ruminated more, and had poorer working memory and verbal fluency than adolescents with minimal depression. The groups did not differ on measures of inhibition or functional avoidance. The CaR-FA-X model was therefore partially supported. These results confirm that there is a relationship between low mood and OGM in young people and that OGM may arise as consequence of impaired working memory and verbal fluency and cognitive interference due to rumination.

Effect of 4 weeks daily wild blueberry supplementation on symptoms of depression in adolescents

“…This suggests that there may be an indirect pathway between flavonoid consumption and depression whereby flavonoid consumption enhances cerebral blood flow, which boosts executive functioning; in turn improved executive functioning helps to enhance cognitive control, inhibits rumination and thus reduces depression. Adolescents with depression have impaired executive function compared with non-depressed and anxious young people (49) , and therefore, the benefits of flavonoid consumption may be more prominent in these young people. However, potentially any positive effects of flavonoid consumption on executive function would have benefits for more young people because executive function is critical for academic achievement (50) .…”

Autobiographical Memory Specificity and Detailedness and Their Association with Depression in Early Adolescence

“…Since one's ability to be specific or report more details may be a consequence of their language skills (Salmon & Reese, 2016;Dalgleish et al, 2007), studies have included verbal fluency measures as a control to ensure a robust relationship between memory specificity/detail and depressive symptoms (e.g. Fisk, Ellis & Reynolds, 2019). Although our present study found As in previous investigations that have examined the association between the specificity and detailedness of autobiographical recall amongst adults (Hallford et al 2021), the present findings suggest that specificity and detailedness are distinct, but interrelated, constructs in adolescents.…”

Only reduced specificity of negative memories is associated with reduced goal specificity in depression.

“…They were also coded as general memories. Examples of responses for general events were “My brother was constantly insulting me about my low grades in math classes” and “I always feel successful whenever I think about school.” This coding was based on previous OGM studies which coded both categorical and extended memories under the nonspecific category (Fisk et al, 2019; Kuyken & Dalgleish, 2011; Raes et al, 2007). Furthermore, in self-memory system model, general events refer to both categorical (i.e., repeated) and extended events (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000).…”