Avoidance and overgeneral memory

<p>Overgeneral memory is a phenomenon that occurs in depression in which people tend to remember temporally non-specific autobiographical memories. Overgeneral memory may be functional; by avoiding specific memories, potentially distressing emotions can avoided. This “functional avoidance” may be part of a repertoire of avoidance strategies people use when they are under stress. The question of the relationship between avoidance, stress, and overgeneral memory has been investigated using only laboratory-based stressors, and no previous research has examined the relationships in both non-clinical and clinical samples. Across four studies, this thesis investigated the relationships between avoidance and overgeneral memory in clinical and non-clinical samples and whether every-day stress moderates this relationship. Studies 1, 2, and 4 engaged undergraduate samples in which mean depression scores were low (non-clinical samples). Study 3 engaged a sample from a university counselling service in which the mean depression score was high (clinical sample). Participants completed self-report measures of avoidance and stress. They were also asked to remember specific events to a series of emotion cue words on the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). This thesis also investigated the possibility that avoidance may be associated with a reduction in memory performance on other tests of autobiographical memory besides the AMT, perhaps because other types of memories, not just specific, can be distressing. Thus, in Study 1, participants also completed the Autobiographical Memory Test-Reversed (AMT-R) in which they were asked to retrieve general memories. In addition, across studies, the pleasantness of events remembered to positive and negative cues was examined. In Study 4, the possible moderating role of rating pleasantness on the relationship between avoidance and overgeneral memory was examined. Results from the non-clinical samples indicated higher avoidance was associated with less overgeneral remembering on the AMT. In the clinical sample, there were no significant relationships between avoidance and overgeneral memory. There were no significant relationships between avoidance and AMT-R performance. Overall, stress did not moderate the relationship between avoidance and overgeneral memory. Mean pleasantness ratings for events remembered to positive and negative cues were congruent with cue valence. However, individual positive and negative cues did not always elicit memories for pleasant and unpleasant events, respectively. Rating (vs. not rating) the pleasantness of remembered events did not moderate the relationship between avoidance and overgeneral memory. Overall, findings suggested that functional avoidance is not part of a repertoire of avoidance strategies. Ironic process theory is discussed as an explanation for why higher avoidance was associated with a lower proportion of overgeneral memories in the non-clinical samples.</p>

Avoidance and overgeneral memory

<p>Overgeneral memory is a phenomenon that occurs in depression in which people tend to remember temporally non-specific autobiographical memories. Overgeneral memory may be functional; by avoiding specific memories, potentially distressing emotions can avoided. This “functional avoidance” may be part of a repertoire of avoidance strategies people use when they are under stress. The question of the relationship between avoidance, stress, and overgeneral memory has been investigated using only laboratory-based stressors, and no previous research has examined the relationships in both non-clinical and clinical samples. Across four studies, this thesis investigated the relationships between avoidance and overgeneral memory in clinical and non-clinical samples and whether every-day stress moderates this relationship. Studies 1, 2, and 4 engaged undergraduate samples in which mean depression scores were low (non-clinical samples). Study 3 engaged a sample from a university counselling service in which the mean depression score was high (clinical sample). Participants completed self-report measures of avoidance and stress. They were also asked to remember specific events to a series of emotion cue words on the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). This thesis also investigated the possibility that avoidance may be associated with a reduction in memory performance on other tests of autobiographical memory besides the AMT, perhaps because other types of memories, not just specific, can be distressing. Thus, in Study 1, participants also completed the Autobiographical Memory Test-Reversed (AMT-R) in which they were asked to retrieve general memories. In addition, across studies, the pleasantness of events remembered to positive and negative cues was examined. In Study 4, the possible moderating role of rating pleasantness on the relationship between avoidance and overgeneral memory was examined. Results from the non-clinical samples indicated higher avoidance was associated with less overgeneral remembering on the AMT. In the clinical sample, there were no significant relationships between avoidance and overgeneral memory. There were no significant relationships between avoidance and AMT-R performance. Overall, stress did not moderate the relationship between avoidance and overgeneral memory. Mean pleasantness ratings for events remembered to positive and negative cues were congruent with cue valence. However, individual positive and negative cues did not always elicit memories for pleasant and unpleasant events, respectively. Rating (vs. not rating) the pleasantness of remembered events did not moderate the relationship between avoidance and overgeneral memory. Overall, findings suggested that functional avoidance is not part of a repertoire of avoidance strategies. Ironic process theory is discussed as an explanation for why higher avoidance was associated with a lower proportion of overgeneral memories in the non-clinical samples.</p>

Does How We Remember Predict How We Will Feel? A Longitudinal Study of the Influence of Overgeneral Memory on the Development of Depression in Young People

<p>An increased tendency towards overgeneral memory (OGM) has been associated with depression in young people. How this may impact the early development of depressive symptoms is unclear. This has been difficult to determine due to the lack of longitudinal research in this area, in particular with young people in the community prior to the development of significant depressive symptoms. The current study aimed to investigate how OGM related to the development of depression in a community sample of 235 young people aged 10- to 15-years at baseline. Measures of depression, OGM, and rumination were obtained at baseline and follow-up, one year later. As predicted, and consistent with past findings, an increased tendency towards OGM at follow-up was associated with greater depressive symptoms. However, despite indications from previous work that OGM may also predict depression prior to the emergence of symptoms, the reverse was found with depression predicting OGM over time. This suggests that among the general population, while OGM may be an associated and possible maintaining feature of depression, it appears to be a consequence of experiencing depressive symptoms rather than a significant early predictive or vulnerability factor. Contrary to evidence that rumination may also increase OGM, rumination was not significantly associated with OGM. Limitations, strengths and future directions based on these findings are discussed.</p>

Does How We Remember Predict How We Will Feel? A Longitudinal Study of the Influence of Overgeneral Memory on the Development of Depression in Young People

<p>An increased tendency towards overgeneral memory (OGM) has been associated with depression in young people. How this may impact the early development of depressive symptoms is unclear. This has been difficult to determine due to the lack of longitudinal research in this area, in particular with young people in the community prior to the development of significant depressive symptoms. The current study aimed to investigate how OGM related to the development of depression in a community sample of 235 young people aged 10- to 15-years at baseline. Measures of depression, OGM, and rumination were obtained at baseline and follow-up, one year later. As predicted, and consistent with past findings, an increased tendency towards OGM at follow-up was associated with greater depressive symptoms. However, despite indications from previous work that OGM may also predict depression prior to the emergence of symptoms, the reverse was found with depression predicting OGM over time. This suggests that among the general population, while OGM may be an associated and possible maintaining feature of depression, it appears to be a consequence of experiencing depressive symptoms rather than a significant early predictive or vulnerability factor. Contrary to evidence that rumination may also increase OGM, rumination was not significantly associated with OGM. Limitations, strengths and future directions based on these findings are discussed.</p>

Reduced Specificity and Increased Overgenerality of Autobiographical Memory Persist as Cognitive Vulnerabilities in Remitted Major Depression: A Meta-Analysis

Difficulty in accessing specific memories, referred to as reduced memory specificity or overgeneral memory, has been established as a marker of clinical depression. However, it is not clear if this deficit persists following the remission of depressive episodes. The current study involved a systematic review and meta-analysis of empirical studies with the aim of establishing whether remitted depression was associated with retrieving fewer specific and more overgeneral autobiographical memories. Seventeen studies were identified as eligible. The results indicated that people with remitted depression recalled fewer specific memories (k = 15; g = -0.314, 95% CI[-0.543; -0.085], z = -2.69, p = .007) and more categoric memories (k = 9; g = 0.254, 95% CI[0.007; 0.501], z = 2.02, p = .043) compared to people who had never been depressed. Given that these deficits have elsewhere been shown to be prognostic of future depressive symptoms, these findings provide further evidence that reduced memory specificity/overgeneral memory appears to be a risk factor for future episodes of depression in those that are in remission. The findings are discussed in terms of how this knowledge might influence clinical understanding of relapse prevention and maintenance of remission in those with a history of depression.

Self-defining Memories (Their Affect, Structure, Meaning, and Content) in Relation to Temperament, Trait Domains, and Psychological Adjustment

We partly replicated and significantly extended research linking four features of self-defining memories (SDMs) – affect, structure, meaning, and content – to personality and adjustment. By linking SDM features to temperament, the five-factor model domains, and psychopathology models (and the Big Three superfactors), we tested theories about the relationships between autobiographical memory and personality. The sample of 133 participants (1330 SDMs) was well-powered for multilevel modeling. We found support for the following claims. Affect: SDM affect was linked to positive and negative emotionality indices, consistent with trait theory and the self-memory system (SMS) model of autobiographical recall. Structure: SDM specificity vs. overgenerality related to indices of constraint and internalizing tendencies, lending support to the executive dysfunction and emotional disorder theories of overgeneral memory. Tests of the avoidance hypotheses of overgeneral memory were less conclusive. Meaning: Integrative processing in SDMs reflects healthy personality functioning. It moderated the link between SDM affect and internalizing. Content: Links between SDM content (event types and contamination themes) and personality suggest that SDMs reflect personal goals (as per the SMS model) whose fulfillment (or frustration) may indicate (mal)adjustment. This research further establishes the validity and usefulness of the SDM framework in the study of autobiographical memory, personality, and psychopathology.

Reacting to abuse

This chapter assesses the effects of childhood abuse and neglect. It begins by discussing the ‘overgeneral memory effect’. This is the finding that abused children tend to forget many of the specific happenings in their childhoods. Reflection on it can perhaps help to shed some light on how memory, and its suppression, works. The chapter then draws some parallels with the findings on delayed gratification. It is striking that in both cases one finds a need to shut down certain sorts of thought; the therapeutic interest is in how and when one might get it going again. The chapter also poses a question about how much the effects of childhood abuse are mediated by the expectations of the subjects. Many have claimed, with some plausibility, that one finds such mediation in various psychological illnesses: that the way that subjects understand their own condition affects the symptoms that they display.

Autobiographical Memory Impairment in Adolescents in Out-of-Home Care

Childhood maltreatment is a major risk factor for emotional problems in adolescence and adulthood and has deleterious effects on cognitive functions such as working memory. A key aspect in the study of the cognitive and affective consequences of maltreatment is autobiographical memory, especially regarding the difficulty retrieving specific memories, known as overgeneral memory. In this study, autobiographical memory tests, working memory, and a depressive symptom assessment were administered to 48 adolescents in care with a history of maltreatment (22 abused and 26 neglected) without mental disorder, who had been removed from their family and were living in residential child care, and to 61 adolescents nonmaltreated who had never been placed in care. The results show that adolescents with a history of maltreatment remember fewer specific events (Cohen d = 1.1–1.3) and that both working memory and depressive symptoms are involved in overgeneral memory ( R2 = .13–.26). Directions for future research include neuropsychological assessment and implementation of a training program to increase specific memory recall in this population.

Posttraumatic stress and autobiographical memory in chronic pain patients

Background and aims Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is related to more severe pain among chronic pain patients. PTSD is also related to dysfunctions or biases in several cognitive processes, including autobiographical memory. The autobiographical memories are our memories of specific personal events taking place over a limited amount of time on a specific occasion. We investigated how two biases in autobiographical memory, overgeneral memory style and negative emotional bias were related to pain, PTSD and trauma exposure in chronic pain patients. Methods Forty-three patients with diverse chronic pain conditions were recruited from a specialist pain clinic. The patients were evaluated for psychiatric diagnosis, with a diagnostic interview Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I) and for exposure to the most common types of traumatic events with the Life Event Checklist (LEC). The patients were tested with the 15-cue-words version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). In this test the participants are presented verbally to five positive, five neutral and five negative cue words and asked to respond with a personal, episodic memory associated with the cue word. The participant’s responses were coded according to level of specificity and emotional valence. Pain intensity was assessed on a Visual Analogy Scale (VAS) and extent of pain by marking affected body parts on a pre-drawn body figure. Comparisons on autobiographical memory were made between PTSD and non-PTSD groups, and correlations were computed between pain intensity and extent of pain, trauma exposure and autobiographical memory. Results PTSD and extent of pain were significantly related to more negatively emotionally valenced memory responses to positive and negative cue words. There were no significant difference in response to neutral cue words. PTSD status and pain intensity were unrelated to overgeneral autobiographical memory style. Conclusions A memory bias towards negatively emotionally valenced memories is associated with PTSD and extent of pain. This bias may sustain negative mood and thereby intensify pain perception, or pain may also cause this memory bias. Contrary to our expectations, pain, trauma exposure and PTSD were not significantly related to an overgeneral memory style. Implications Cognitive therapies that have an ingredient focusing on amending memory biases in persons with comorbid pain and PTSD might be helpful for this patient population. Further investigations of negative personal memories and techniques to improve the control over these memories could potentially be useful for chronic pain treatment.