Does processing of emotional stimuli predict symptomatic improvement and diagnostic recovery from major depression?
- 1 January 2007
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Emotion
- Vol. 7 (1), 201-206
- https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.201
Abstract
This study was designed to examine whether processing of emotional stimuli predicts both symptomatic improvement and recovery from depression. Participants diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (N=63) completed information-processing tasks to assess attention to and memory for sad, physically threatening, socially threatening, and happy stimuli. At a follow-up session an average of nine months later, participants were reassessed to determine diagnostic status and depression severity. None of the measure of attention or memory predicted diagnostic status at follow-up. Those depressed participants who remembered a higher proportion of positive words that they had endorsed as self-descriptive exhibited greater symptomatic improvement. After controlling for memory of positive self-referential words, attentional measures did not predict symptomatic change. These results are consistent with a growing literature highlighting the importance of emotionally relevant memory processes for understanding the course of major depression.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH59259)
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