Autobiographical Memory in Postnatal Depression

Recent commentaries have suggested that women with postnatal depression (PND) experience negatively biased evaluations of their parental abilities and performance. This study investigated the differential accessibility of positive and negative memories in women with PND. Thirteen PND and 13 nondepressed mothers were administered the Autobiographical Memory Test. PND participants retrieved fewer specific memories, and retrieved them more slowly, than controls. PND participants retrieved more negative, and fewer positive, memories with a parental theme than controls. Severity of PND was significantly correlated with deficits in accessing specific memories. Findings are discussed in terms of the application of cognitive therapies to women with PND.     

Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory as Depression Vulnerability

Overgeneral autobiographical memory, the tendency to recall categories of events when asked to provide specific instances from one's life, has been shown to be characteristic of depressed, suicidal, and traumatized individuals. In the current study, overgeneral memory interacted with the occurrence of stressful life events to predict subsequent depression symptoms in a nonclinical sample of college students. Controlling for initial depression symptoms, students who showed both high overgeneral memory and high frequencies of stressful life events had more depression symptoms 4–6 weeks later. Overgeneral memory was correlated with an index of specificity culled from autobiographical essays but, contrary to expectation, was uncorrelated with self-report measures of thought suppression, dissociation, avoidance, or intrusion.     

Disentangling the Interplay Among Cognitive Biases: Evidence of Combined Effects of Attention,Interpretation and Autobiographical Memory in Depression

Previous research has found that cognitive biases in attention, interpretation, and memory play an important role in depression. However, there is little knowledge of the interplay between these biases in clinical depression. The present study was aimed to model different pathways of relation among attention, interpretation and autobiographical memory biases, and to examine their contribution to account for depression status outcomes. Cognitive biases were evaluated in a sample comprising 22 currently-depressed and 36 never-depressed individuals representing a broad range of depression severity levels. Cognitive biases were assessed by three separate tasks using different types of stimuli. Our main finding was a significant indirect effect model in which attention bias to negative faces was linked to greater negative memory bias via its association with negative interpretation bias. Within this model, the specific pathway between attention bias to negative faces and negative interpretation bias accounted both for significant variance in depression severity as well as for depression diagnostic status. These findings increase our understanding of the complex interplay between cognitive mechanisms involved in clinical depression and highlight hypothetical pathways relevant for future interventions.     

创伤个体自传体记忆的特征及其理论解释的Meta分析

目的:探讨了创伤个体的自传体记忆特征及其理论解释。方法:对中国知网、万方数据库、中国国家图书馆、PubMed、Science Direct、Google Scholar和ProQuest等数据进行检索,获得符合要求的22项研究和56个独立效应量,共包含1811名被试,对这些数据进行Meta分析。结果:Meta分析表明创伤个体的自传体记忆的基本特征表现为具体性自传体记忆的减少,概括化自传体记忆的增加;女性创伤个体的具体性自传体记忆减少显著多于男性,青少年自传体记忆具体性减少高于成年个体;在概括化自传体记忆方面,性别和年龄与其则没有明显关联。结论:创伤个体的自传体记忆表现为具体性自传体记忆的减少,概括化自传体记忆的增加;被试的性别、年龄阶段可以影响创伤个体的自传体记忆特征在量上表现。     

Posthypnotic Amnesia For Autobiographical Episodes: Influencing Memory Accessibility and Quality

The authors examined the impact of posthypnotic amnesia on the accessibility and quality of personal memories. High, medium, and low hypnotizable individuals recalled two autobiographical episodes and rated those memories. During hypnosis, subjects were given a posthypnotic amnesia suggestion that targeted one of the episodes. After hypnosis, they recalled and rated their memories of the episodes. The posthypnotic amnesia suggestion influenced the accessibility and quality of autobiographical memory for high and some medium, but not low, hypnotizable participants. The article discusses these findings in terms of investigating and understanding the impact of posthypnotic amnesia on autobiographical memory.     

Depression and Implicit Memory: Understanding Mood Congruent Memory Bias

The present paper reviews the depression and implicit memory literature, emphasizing studies addressing possible mood congruent implicit memory biases in depression. Although some of these studies seem to indicate the presence of mood congruent biases in implicit memory, others fail to show this effect. Although the studies differ on a variety of dimensions (participant population, sample size, implicit memory task, depressive status, etc.), a thorough review of the literature suggests that these are not the most important considerations in understanding the presence or absence of mood congruent memory biases in depression. Rather, the cognitive framework of Transfer Appropriate Processing is used as a tool to organize and explain these findings. In particular, the role of perceptual and conceptual cognitive processes by depressed participants performing implicit memory tasks are examined in the context of perceptual and conceptual task demands. Examining unconscious influences on emotion could have important implications for understanding and treating depression.     

Effects of Childhood Abuse on Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory in Current Major Depressive Disorder

In a sample of adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder (N = 77), we examined the relationship between overgeneral autobiographical memory and childhood physical and sexual abuse. We hypothesised that childhood abuse would be related to retrieving fewer specific autobiographical memories, even after statistically covarying psychopathology-related variables, including posttraumatic stress disorder and depression severity. Our hypotheses were supported for childhood physical abuse but not for childhood sexual abuse. Childhood physical abuse was related to the recall of fewer specific memories on the Autobiographical Memory Test. No significant association, however, emerged between the Autobiographical Memory Test and childhood sexual trauma. Directions for future research include prospective designs as well as further examination of trauma characteristics (e.g., age of onset) and means by which individuals cope with trauma.     

Autobiographical Memory in Borderline Personality Disorder and Depression<Superscript>1</Superscript>

Responses to an autobiographical memory test (AMT, Williams & Broadbent, 1986) are examined in a sample of 30 female psychiatric inpatients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) in comparison to a group of 27 depressed inpatients and a nonclinical control group of 30 women. Concordant with the literature, depressed patients retrieved fewer specific memories than the control group, generated significantly more categoric memories than participants of both other groups, and needed more time for retrieval. Contrary to expectation, patients with BPD did not differ from normal control participants in specificity, nor latency of their retrieved memories. In both clinical groups, hedonic tone of retrieved memories was more often negative than in the control group. In this sample of inpatients with BPD, specificity of memories was not related to self-reported level of depression, dissociative symptoms, or frequency of self-mutilation.Parts of the research were presented at the XXX Congress of the European Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, EABCT, in Granada, Spain, September 2000.     

The Benefits of Expressive Writing on Autobiographical Memory Specificity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study provided a preliminary investigation of an expressive writing intervention, which has been found to reduce rumination and avoidance, in reducing overgeneral memory among 207 non-depressed college students. Participants were randomized to one of three writing conditions: traditional expressive writing, specific expressive writing, or control writing. Study results showed that compared to participants in the control writing condition, participants in the traditional and specific expressive writing conditions demonstrated significantly greater autobiographical memory specificity at the 6-month follow-up. Results revealed that the effect of the traditional expressive writing intervention on increased autobiographical memory specificity was partially mediated by a reduction in avoidance, but not rumination.     

The Therapeutic Effects of Completing Autobiographical Memory Questionnaires for Positive and Negative Events: An Experimental Approach

Rubin et al. (Cognit Ther Res 34:35–48, 2010) demonstrated that completing autobiographical memory questionnaires about a very negative event leads to decreases in levels of distress related to that event. However, a limitation of their methodology was that perhaps completing the memory questionnaire about any autobiographical memory could produce the reported effects. In the current study, 238 participants nominated a very negative and a very positive event from their lives. Participants were then randomly assigned to complete autobiographical memory questionnaires about either their nominated negative or nominated positive event. The results generally replicated the pattern reported in Rubin et al. In comparison to participants who completed questionnaires about a positive event, participants who completed the memory questionnaires about their nominated negative event evidenced decreases in emotional reactions and distress levels. Implications for completing autobiographical memory questionnaires about negative events as a possible therapeutic tool are discussed.     

Autobiographical Memory and Episodic Future Thinking in Severe Health Anxiety: A Comparison with Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder

Severe health anxiety is characterized by intrusive worries about harboring a serious illness. In the present study, 32 patients with severe health anxiety, 32 control participants and a clinical control group of 33 patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) reported unprompted and anxiety-related autobiographical memories and episodic future thoughts. Compared to control participants, the patient groups displayed similar patterns in the characteristics of the reported events and regarding the maladaptive cognitive and behavioral strategies used, when the events came to mind. Patients with severe health anxiety reported more events related to their own illness or death than either of the other groups, and exploratory analyses suggested that they were more inclined than OCD patients to check their own bodies when anxiety-related events came to mind. Autobiographical memories and episodic future thoughts have not previously been examined in patients with severe health anxiety, but could play an important role in this disorder.     

Attention and Memory Biases in Social Anxiety Disorder: The Role of Comorbid Depression

Cognitive biases play an important role in the onset and maintenance of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Few studies, however, have examined the role of comorbid Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in the processing of emotional material. In addition, little is known about the relation among different cognitive biases. In the current study, 73 participants (54.79% female) completed an emotion face dot-probe task followed by a recognition memory test. Compared to participants with SAD, participants with comorbid SAD and MDD oriented away from supraliminally presented angry faces. Subsequently, SAD participants with and without comorbidity recognized fewer angry faces than non-disordered controls. Furthermore, attention biases for subliminally presented stimuli predicted recognition accuracy only for comorbid participants. These results suggest that the presence of comorbid MDD affects attentional orienting in SAD participants. In addition, it highlights the interconnectedness of attention and memory biases for comorbid participants.     

Identifying the Most Effective Strategies for Improving Autobiographical Memory Specificity and Its Implications for Mental Health Problems: A Meta-analysis

Cognitive Therapy and Research - The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of psychological interventions, used to enhance autobiographical memory specificity, on their...     

Increased Direct Retrieval of Overgeneral Categoric Memory in Individuals with Dysphoria and a History of Major Depression

Cognitive Therapy and Research - Increased overgeneral categoric memory has been reported in individuals with dysphoria and a history of depression. In three experiments, we examined whether...     

Rumination: Practicing Retrieval of Autobiographical Memories

Cognitive Therapy and Research - People who ruminate about negative personal experiences seem to be engaged in practicing retrieval, with the expected consequences of perpetuating those very...     

Depression and Subthreshold Depression in Stroke-Related Aphasia

ObjectiveTo investigate the prevalence of depression and subthreshold depression in persons with aphasia. To investigate whether there are linguistic and cognitive differences between those with depression, subthreshold depression, and no depression.DesignSurvey.SettingRehabilitation hospital.ParticipantsParticipants with chronic aphasia due to a single left-hemisphere stroke (N=144).Main Outcome MeasuresCenter for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale to assess the prevalence of depression. The Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R) to evaluate the type of aphasia; the Aphasia Quotient measured the severity of linguistic deficits.ResultsThe prevalence of depression in our participants was 19.44% while that of subthreshold depression was 22.22%. Depressed persons with aphasia had significantly lower WAB-R reading scores than those without depression.ConclusionsFindings suggest that persons with aphasia who have depressive symptoms may do worse on some linguistic measures than those with no depression. Since subthreshold depression can progress to depression, clinicians should routinely screen for depressive symptoms.     

Memory and Memory Training:

This study examined memory and improvement in memory following memory training. Variables included: age, number of years of formal education, number of years since formal education, number of classes taken in the last fifteen years, participants' perceptions of health as it relates to attention and memory, particiants' perceptions of relevance of course material to their everyday lives and careers. Data indicated statistical significances in the relationships of memory with (1) age, (2) number of years since formal education and (3) number of classes taken in the last fifteen years. No statistical significance between variables was elicited in improvement in memory following memory training, however, many interesting trends were noted. The memory techniques presented in this research should be very instructive to occupational therapists who teach and interact with elderly clients.