Role of autobiographical memory in social problem solving and depression.

TLDR

Depressed patients often show deficits in social problem solving, possibly due to impaired retrieval of specific autobiographical memories. The study examines the cyclical relationship among autobiographical memory retrieval, social problem‑solving skills, and depression. Clinically depressed and hospital control participants completed a Means‑End Problem‑Solving task that required them to generate solutions while retrieving memories, which were then classified as specific, categoric, or extended and as positive or negative. Results confirm that social problem‑solving ability depends on autobiographical memory retrieval, with dysfunctional categoric memories—rather than specific memories—being most detrimental in depression, and memory valence having no effect.

Abstract

Depressed patients frequently exhibit deficiencies in social problem solving (SPS). A possible cause of this deficit is an impairment in patients' ability to retrieve specific autobiographical memories. A clinically depressed group and a hospital control group performed the Means-End Problem-Solving (MEPS; J. J. Platt & G. Spivack, 1975a) task, during which they were required to attend to the memories retrieved during solution generation. Memories were categorized according to whether they were specific, categoric, or extended and whether the valence of the memories was positive or negative. Results support the general hypothesis that SPS skill is a function of autobiographical memory retrieval as measured by a cuing task and by the types of memories retrieved during the MEPS. However, the dysfunctional nature of categoric memories in SPS, rather than the importance of specific memories, was highlighted in the depressed group. Valence proved to be an unimportant variable in SPS ability. The cyclical links among autobiographical memory retrieval, SPS skills, and depression are discussed.