Abstract

NASCIMENTO, Juliana Maria Steffen do  and  PERGHER, Giovanni Kuckartz. Autobiographical memory and depression: a correlational study with clinical sample. Psicol. teor. prat. [online]. 2011, vol.13, n.2, pp. 142-153. ISSN 1516-3687.

Data from literature indicates that depressed individuals show difficulties in retrieving specific autobiographical memories. However, the relationship between autobiographical memory specificity and the severity of depressive symptoms is not well established. So, this study investigated the correlation between autobiographical memory specificity and the depression level in a clinical sample. To do this, the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were applied in a sample of 30 patients with diagnoses of Major Depression. The results indicated a negative correlation between autobiographical memory specificity and depression level, that is, the more depressed the participants were, the less specific their autobiographical recollection were.

Keywords : memory; depression; mental processes; cognition; treatment.

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