School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2023 Jun 28;18(6):e0287007. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287007. eCollection 2023.
Individuals with a history of depression have an increased risk for future episodes. This risk has been linked with impaired features of autobiographical memory retrieval that remain when depressive symptoms abate, including memory specificity, remoteness, valence, and vantage perspective. Rumination has been shown to influence these impairments and can be reduced via compassion training. We therefore investigated the effects of a self-compassion meditation on autobiographical memory retrieval in remitted depression. Baseline data were collected (n = 50) using an extended version of the Autobiographical Memory Test where participants with remitted depression retrieved specific memories from a remote time period (10 cues) and from any time period (10 cues). Valence and vantage perspective were rated. Participants were then randomly allocated to a self-compassion meditation or (control) colouring intervention group. Baseline measures were reassessed after four weeks of the intervention. Results revealed increased retrieval of specific memories in the self-compassion group in comparison to the colouring group, and an increase in positive and field memories across groups while no remoteness changes were observed. This self-compassion meditation demonstrated initial promise as an intervention to influence features of autobiographical memory retrieval in remitted depression. Improvements were shown in specificity, valence, and vantage perspective. Addressing these features with this type of intervention might reduce a cognitive vulnerability to depression and should be investigated in future studies.
有抑郁病史的个体未来发生发作的风险增加。这种风险与抑郁症状缓解时仍存在的自传体记忆检索的损伤特征有关，包括记忆特异性、距离、效价和视角。沉思已被证明会影响这些损伤，并且可以通过同情训练来减少。因此，我们研究了自我同情冥想对缓解期抑郁患者自传体记忆检索的影响。使用自传体记忆测试的扩展版本收集基线数据（n = 50），其中缓解期抑郁患者从远程时间段（10 个线索）和任何时间段（10 个线索）检索特定记忆。效价和视角进行了评分。然后，参与者被随机分配到自我同情冥想或（对照）填色干预组。干预四周后重新评估基线测量值。结果显示，与填色组相比，自我同情组在检索特定记忆方面有了更多的改善，并且在两个组中都观察到积极记忆和领域记忆的增加，而距离没有变化。这种自我同情冥想作为一种干预措施，初步显示出对缓解期抑郁患者自传体记忆检索特征的影响。在特异性、效价和视角方面都有所改善。用这种类型的干预来解决这些特征可能会降低对抑郁的认知脆弱性，应该在未来的研究中进行调查。
