Autobiographical memory in depression

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Recent research has shown that suicidal patients are not only biased in the speed with which they can remember positive and negative events from their past, but that they also find it more difficult to be specific in their memories. That is, they tend to recall sequences of events, or time periods, rather than single episodes. This tendency has been found to be more evident with positive than with negative events. This paper examines whether the same phenomenon can be observed in patients with a diagnosis of primary Major Depressive Disorder. Twenty depressed patients and twenty matched controls were presented with positive and negative cue words and asked to retrieve specific personal memories. Results showed that depressives (unlike controls) took longer to respond to positive than to negative cues. In addition, the depressed patients were less specific in their memories, especially in response to positive cues. These results are explained within a 'descriptions' theory of autobiographical memory, and the remedial implications are discussed.

Reductions in Specific First Memories in Depression: Influences of Distraction, Referential Set and Cue Word Valence on First Memory Retrieval

“…Our finding that cue-word valence does not affect the numbers of specific memories retrieved or the retrieval latencies is consistent with some (e.g., Brittlebank et al, 1993;Kuyken & Brewin, 1995;Kuyken & Dalgleish, 1995) but not all (e.g., Puffet et al, 1991;Williams & Dritschel, 1988;Williams & Scott, 1988) previous studies in this area. Early studies found that depressed individuals showed slowed recall and more overgeneral recall in the positive cue-word condition (Puffet et al, 1991;Williams & Dritschel, 1988;Williams & Scott, 1988).…”

“…For example, in relation to the cue word 'safe', the response 'I feel safe when I'm in bed' is an overgeneral memory. Findings using this and other methods have shown that cueword valence does not always affect the number and latency of specific memories retrieved (Brittlebank et al, 1993;Kuyken & Brewin, 1995;Kuyken & Dalgleish, 1995;Puffet, JehinMarchot, Timsit-Berthier & Timsit, 1991;Williams & Dritschel, 1988;Williams & Scott, 1988). …”

“…Early studies found that depressed individuals showed slowed recall and more overgeneral recall in the positive cue-word condition (Puffet et al, 1991;Williams & Dritschel, 1988;Williams & Scott, 1988).…”

Autobiographical memory specificity and the course of major depressive disorder

“…This phenomenon of overgeneral recall does not pertain to the content of autobiographical memory, but to its lack of spatiotemporal specificity. Overgeneral recall is associated with a diagnosis of major depression [2][3][4][5] and trauma-related disorders such as acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. 6,7 Overgeneral recall is not found in patients with a variety of other psychiatric diagnoses 5,8,9 and normal individuals who score high on neuroticism and/or trait anxiety.…”

Aspectos neuropsicológicos da depressão

“…É descrito que pacientes deprimidos teriam maior seletividade na evocação de material negativo [49][50] . Williams et al 51 sugerem que o processamento cognitivo ocorreria em dois tempos: um pré-atentivo (que segue a captura atentiva da informação e é refletido em testes de memória implícita) e outro elaborativo (que envolve a associação de informações-alvo com outras informações na memória, refletida em testes explícitos). Se a memória implícita não é comprometida, a memória congruente com o humor será expressa em testes de memória explícita.…”