Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is characterized by persistent and impairing low mood and loss of interest or pleasure. Given that MDD is highly recurrent, it is important to identify which impairments remain during remission and may predict recurrence. A key impairment in MDD is that they tend to process current and past information more negatively than healthy individuals. However, it is unclear whether this negative information-processing bias persists during remission. This study will investigate a retrospective type of negative information-processing bias when recollecting recent real-world events among young adults with remitted depression (n=31) compared to healthy individuals (n=32). Participants were given a handheld device and responded to prompts on the device four times a day for one week. The prompts asked whether the individual experienced a positive or negative event since the last prompt and how intense that negative or positive event was. At the end of the week, participants completed a questionnaire regarding their experiences over the past week. They were asked how many negative and positive events the individual experienced over the past week, and the overall intensity of these negative and positive events. It is hypothesized that individuals with remitted depression will report a greater number and intensity of negative events in the distal retrospection period than in the proximal retrospection period, but no difference is expected for positive events. The opposite findings are expected for healthy individuals. This research may advance the understanding of persistent impairments in remitted depression while focusing on real-life events.
Information processing bias against emotional facial expressions in social anxiety
