HOW AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY DEFICITS AFFECT PROBLEM-SOLVING IN DEPRESSED PATIENTS

Abstract

Over the past decade, there have been several studies showing autobiographical memory retrieval and problem‑solving deficits in depressed population. The present study aimed to first to examine the roles of autobiographical memory specificity and problemsolving effectiveness in Iranian depressed people with or without suicide ideation and secondly, to test the correlations between autobiographical memory and problem-solving components. A group of depressed patients with suicide ideation (n=20, aged 18-45) and a matched control group (depressed without suicide ideation) were tested by a autobiographical memory test, a means-ends problem-solving task, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). Both groups met DSM-IV criteria for major depression disorder without psychotic features. In line with hypotheses, the suicide ideators scored significantly higher on the hopelessness scale than the control group. The suicide ideators also provided significantly less effective problem-solving strategies and more over-general memories than the control group. A significant correlation was found between low effectiveness of problem-solving strategies and over-general memory retrieval. The present results suggest that access to non-specific memories in depressed people can lead probably to ineffective problem solutions and subsequently hopelessness and suicide.

Keywords

• Depression
• suicide
• autobiographical memory
• problem-solving