Memory, Depression, and Anxiety

Abstract

Abstract Impairments in working memory and autobiographical memory are integral to the experience of depression and anxiety. Within working memory, those experiencing poor mental health have a reduced ability to store and manipulate both visual and spatial information, relative to their healthy counterparts. Working memory is particularly impaired for emotional material. As such, novel interventions have emerged to improve working memory deficits, with the most promising results found for emotional working memory programs. Autobiographical memory has long been understood to play a key role in the onset and perpetuation of depression and anxiety. Voluntary retrieval of autobiographical memories of single-incident events is impaired, as is retrieval of memories that are positive in emotional valence. Both depression and anxiety are associated with increased involuntary retrieval of autobiographical memories. This chapter discusses how gold-standard treatments target autobiographical memories, and introduces science-driven memory interventions that seek to improve treatment options for depression and anxiety.