Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Curr Opin Psychol. 2024 Oct;59:101853. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101853. Epub 2024 Jul 31.
Episodic future thinking (EFT), the ability to imagine future autobiographical events, is both an everyday and clinically significant cognitive process. With a focus on depression and suicidality, here we discuss evidence connecting EFT with psychopathology. Emotional valence of imagined future events has emerged as the most widely established feature of EFT detected to date, with less positive EFT being associated with depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This pattern may not be merely a byproduct of sadness or anhedonia. Promising directions for future research include clarifying the temporal association between EFT and clinical outcomes, investigating the potential benefits and drawbacks of positive EFT, and refining assessments for youth to measure EFT either preceding or soon after onset of psychopathology.
情景式未来思维（EFT），即想象未来自传事件的能力，是一种日常且具有重要临床意义的认知过程。本文聚焦于抑郁和自杀倾向，讨论了 EFT 与精神病理学之间的关联。想象未来事件的情绪效价是迄今为止检测到的 EFT 的最广泛确立特征，较少积极的 EFT 与抑郁症状和自杀意念及行为相关。这种模式可能不仅仅是悲伤或快感缺失的副产品。未来研究的有前景方向包括阐明 EFT 与临床结果之间的时间关联，研究积极 EFT 的潜在益处和弊端，以及完善青少年的评估方法，以测量精神病理学发作之前或之后的 EFT。
