This study investigates the reduced specificity of autobiographical memories in opioid-dependent patients and examines whether this phenomenon corresponds to an avoidance strategy in opioiddependent patients and among the general population. Thirty opioid-dependent patients and 30 control participants were given Williams' and Scott's Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to evaluate the level of memory specificity. The use of cognitive avoidance strategy was measured with the Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire (CAQ) and the level of depression with the Beck Depression 13 inventory (BDI 13). The AMT results confirm reduced memory specificity in the dependent patients, both for dependent patients with a depression diagnosis and for nondepressive dependent patients. Results also depict that the more participants (patients and control) use cognitive strategies of avoidance, the less they recall specific memories with the AMT. These data support the emotional avoidance hypothesis of reduced memory specificity in opioid-dependent patients and in the general population, regardless of a diagnosis of depression. Further research is needed to identify the emotion regulation function of reduced specificity in dependent patients. Furthermore, our findings do not exclude the implication of other mechanisms within autobiographical memory retrieval bias for dependent patients, such as a deficit of executive control.

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