Depressive thoughts can so deeply affect people for long periods of time that it may even reduce one’s ability to recollect experiences, according to a new study. The findings of this study can shed more light on the long-term effects of depression on an individual’s memory and how the disease first develops and then lingers in their lifetime, according to a report by IANS.
The study, led by Nick Hubbard from the University of Texas, featured 75 participants, who also happened to be university graduate students. Among them, thirty students were reported to have depressive symptoms and 45 were classified as not displaying depressive symptoms. Then they were asked to respond to a sentence having a depressive theme, like “I am sad,” or “People don’t like me,” or neutral information. After that they were asked to remember a string of numbers.
Researchers found that individuals with a depressed mood forgot more number strings than non-depressed people when responding to a sentence with negative information. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
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