Autobiographical Memory in Major Depression: A Comparison between First-Episode and Recurrent Patients

Autobiographical memory in depression is characterized by an increase in general memory evocation. The aim of this study is to compare autobiographical memory in patients with a first depressive episode and in recurrent patients before and after recovery, using Williams’ and Scott’s autobiographical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychopathology 2002-11, Vol.35 (6), p.335-340
Main Authors: Nandrino, Jean-Louis, Pezard, Laurent, Posté, Alexa, Réveillère, Christian, Beaune, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use
Biological and medical sciences
Chronic Disease
Cognitive science
Depression
Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnosis
Depressive Disorder, Major - drug therapy
Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology
Emotions - drug effects
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Life Change Events
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Recall - drug effects
Middle Aged
Mood disorders
Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data
Original Paper
Patient Admission
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Recurrence
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Summary:Autobiographical memory in depression is characterized by an increase in general memory evocation. The aim of this study is to compare autobiographical memory in patients with a first depressive episode and in recurrent patients before and after recovery, using Williams’ and Scott’s autobiographical memory test. Our results show an increase of the number of general memories only with positive cue words in both groups of patients during the depressive episode. After clinical improvement, this specificity remains in recurrent patients who, in addition, recall more general memories for negative words. By contrast, patients with a first depressive episode are no longer different from controls. These results show both an overgeneralization and a deficit in positive memory access during the depressive episode, whatever the number of previous episodes. Moreover, recurrence chronically modifies access to emotional memories.
ISSN:0254-4962
1423-033X
DOI:10.1159/000068591