Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Psychology, Clinical, Psychology, autobiographical memory, memory specificity, depression, rumination, SPECIFICITY, RUMINATION, SCALE, Adult, Depressive Disorder, Major, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Memory Disorders, Mental Recall, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Prognosis, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Young Adult, 1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, Clinical Psychology, 5203 Clinical and health psychology, 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology, 5205 Social and personality psychology

Abstract:

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterised by difficulties in retrieving specific autobiographical memories, with a significant propensity towards categoric memories (i.e. memories of a summary type). Previous studies have demonstrated that this overgeneral memory is a valid predictor of the course of depression, with reduced specificity being associated with worse outcome. Most of these studies have employed continuous measures of depression to assess the course of the symptoms. This study investigated whether overgeneral memory also predicts clinical status at follow-up (i.e. whether patients still meet criteria for depression). Patients who fulfilled criteria for major depressive disorder were tested shortly after admission to the hospital and were retested some weeks later. It was found that lower levels of specificity or a higher number of categoric memories were associated with a higher probability of still being diagnosed with MDD. These memory variables outperformed other relevant indices, such as depression severity, rumination, level of self-esteem and dysfunctional attitudes.