2 replies to this topic

[OpaqueMind]

Recently I came across this interesting little bit of research in new scientist and the problems it deals with are ones that have affected me for as long as I can remember.

http://www.psycholog...depression.html

The basic idea is that certain people access their autobiographical memories (that is, memories of events that have occurred within their lives) in an overly general way, for example thinking of kissing instead of that first kiss with your lover. They think of the abstracted case rather than an actual instance of it, and any attempts to access a real, emotionally charged moment are fuzzy at best.

These people are generally less resilient in the face of depression because it limits their problem solving abilities (not being able to draw on past experience as a guide to future action) and they cannot properly access memories of the good experiences they've had and therefore the depression they feel is all-consuming. Certain people who have an over-general memory also think mainly in abstractions, and find it hard to relate to the concrete. It also leads to a poor sense of self, as we define ourselves by our stories; the shortcomings, the overcomings and the nothings that weave our lives together. Without the individual threads of memory this is impossible.

A potential solution, or at least improvement of this failing of memory is possible with something called memory specificity training which is to my knowledge a recently emerging therapy. My intention in posting this is twofold; firstly because I'm sure there are some of you on here who suffer from both and secondly because I wanted to request some help in finding actual resources and detailed descriptions of MeST and what it entails.

Here is a much more interesting and in-depth analysis of the relationship; http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC2672050/

[OpaqueMind]

Wahooo I've found a description Hopefully this can help some of you... I have yet to put it into practice myself as I just found it but if anyone is interested I'll keep you updated on my progress.

2.3.2. The training program: MEmorySpecificityTraining (MEST)

The MEST program consists of four 1-h sessions, offered in groups of about three to eight participants for 4 consecutive weeks. The sessions are led by a single trainer (clinical psychologist). The general overarching aim of the complete program is to enhance the specificity with which participants retrieve personal events from their autobiographical memory.

Session 1 mainly consists of psychoeducation about memory functioning in relation to depression. Topics covered are (a) memory difficulties due to impaired concentration, (b) mood congruent encoding and retrieval, and © reduced autobiographical memoryspecificity. It is explained that reduced specificity does not tend to improve when people recover from their depression, and that it represents a latent vulnerability factor for depression. It is further explained what specific vs. overgeneral memories are (using personal examples from the trainer as well as other examples). Participants are then asked to recall a specific memory for a neutral (‘bike’) and a positive cue (‘happy’) and write these down in their personal workbook. They are prompted to recall as much details as possible (to further promote specificity). Based on, for example the work of Watkins and Philippot (e.g., [Moberly and Watkins, 2006], [Neumann and Philippot, 2007] and [Watkins and Moulds, 2005]), special attention is paid to spatio-temporal and contextual details, and sensory-perceptual details for the memories. Participants' responses are then discussed in group. At the end of the session, homework exercises for the next week are explained. For 10 cues (positive and neutral ones) participants need to generate a specific memory. They are also instructed to write down a ‘specific memory of the day’ every evening of the coming week.

Session 2 starts with a brief summary of Session 1. Next, the homework exercises are discussed in group. For the remaining of this second session, participants recall two specific memories for each of four cues (two positive and two neutral). Again, participants are motivated to recall as much (spatio-temporal, contextual, and sensory perceptual) details as possible. By asking participants to recall two different specific memories for the same cue, we aim to further promote the reduction of overgeneralization. Furthermore, participants are prompted to recall two memories that are quite different from one another, and they are asked to focus on, and pay close attention to those memory aspects or elements that made each memory specific and unique (as compared to the other memory for the same cue). By doing so, we want participants to abandon their focus on prototypical and generic elements of memories, which typically facilitate a tendency to overgeneralize (see e.g., Neumann & Philippot, 2007). At the end of Session 2, the homework exercises for the coming week are explained. For 10 cues (positive and neutral ones) participants need to generate two different specific memories. They are also instructed to write down two different ‘specific memories of the day’ every evening of the coming week.

Session 3 is very similar to Session 2 in terms of the sort of exercises that participants need to do (i.e. two different and unique specific memories for one and the same cue). In Session 3, however, participants also need to work with more negative cues. As such, they are instructed to recall two specific memories for negative cues (clumsy, stressed, and sad). Following each negative cue, they are requested to do the same for the positive ‘counterpart’ cues (skilful, relaxed, and happy). Besides promoting specificity of memory retrieval, by using positive and negative cues of a similar theme (clumsy and skilful, stressed and relaxed, sad and happy), we aim to reduce participants' tendency to overgeneralize (e.g., “I'm a clumsy person”, “I'm always stressed”, “I cannot relax”, “I'm sad all the time”, etc.). The homework assignment is similar to the homework exercises following Session 3, with the exception that now negative cues are provided as well.

In Session 4 participants are offered some further exercises using negative and (‘counterpart’) positive cues. It is also explained that overgeneral thinking can be brought ‘on line’ by a single experience (e.g., “Last Wednesday when my family came over, I ruined dinner”, “Whenever I cook, things go wrong”, “Whatever I do, things go wrong”, “I'm a complete failure”). Several of such examples are discussed in order to promote participants' metacognitive awareness to know and notice when they are starting to shift to more general retrieval or unspecific thinking. Finally, a brief summary of the whole program is offered, and participants are invited to evaluate the course and to share their personal experiences with the training with the other group members and the trainer.

Edited by OpaqueMind, 06 November 2012 - 02:38 PM.

[anon2042]

This is interesting to me but I'm having trouble understanding it fully.

"Research has shown that people who suffer from, or are at risk of, depression have difficulty tapping into specific memories from their own past, an impairment that affects their ability to solve problems and leads them to focus on feelings of distress."

I sure can remember very specific memories of the past, in fact too specific and it becomes intrusive - but only negative ones. I feel like my brain doesn't latch on to positive memories (but I don't think I've been able to fully experience/process positive events since my memory loss). I agree that there's something to be said for incorrect memory storage/retrieval regarding overly negative events, but I don't know how the generalized/specific thing plays into it.

Also, that would be hard for me, because the "neutral" words would all be triggers for me. For example with "bike", I thought of a conversation I had with someone who I don't speak to anymore, and I felt sad. This happens all the time. And since it's hard for me to process or think of positive events I don't know how I could work with the positive cues...