A review of autobiographical memory studies on patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Abstract

BackgroundPatients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders demonstrate various cognitive deficiencies, the most pertinent one being impairment in autobiographical memory. This paper reviews quantitative research investigating deficits in the content, and characteristics, of autobiographical memories in individuals with schizophrenia. It also examines if the method used to activate autobiographical memories influenced the results and which theoretical accounts were proposed to explain the defective recall of autobiographical memories in patients with schizophrenia.MethodsPsycINFO, Web of Science, and PubMed databases were searched for articles published between January 1998 and December 2018. Fifty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. All studies implemented the generative retrieval strategy by inducing memories through cue words or pictures, the life-stage method, or open-ended retrieval method. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement guidelines were followed for this review.ResultsMost studies reported that patients with schizophrenia retrieve less specific autobiographical memories when compared to a healthy control group, while only three studies indicated that both groups performed similarly on memory specificity. Patients with schizophrenia also exhibited earlier reminiscence bumps than those for healthy controls. The relationship between comorbid depression and autobiographical memory specificity appeared to be independent because patients’ memory specificity improved through intervention, but their level of depression remained unchanged. The U-shaped retrieval pattern for memory specificity was not consistent. Both the connection between the history of attempted suicide and autobiographical memory specificity, and the relationship between psychotic symptoms and autobiographical memory specificity, remain inconclusive. Patients’ memory specificity and coherence improved through cognitive training.ConclusionsThe overgeneral recall of autobiographical memory by patients with schizophrenia could be attributed to working memory, the disturbing concept of self, and the cuing method implemented. The earlier reminiscence bump for patients with schizophrenia may be explained by the premature closure of the identity formation process due to the emergence of psychotic symptoms during early adulthood. Protocol developed for this review was registered in PROSPERO (registration no: CRD42017062643).

Episodic Autobiographical Memory in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Exploration With the Autobiographical Interview

“…The second result was the correlation between inhibition and the details richness during the spontaneous phase. The link between executive functions and autobiographical memory performances has been previously shown in typical adults (63), in recovered depressed women (64), in adults with schizophrenia (65), and in children with ASD without ID (66). Thus, our study confirms and extends the past results obtained in children with ASD.…”

Acquisition of Learning and Empathy Towards Patients in Nursing Students Through Online Escape Room: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

“…15,16 The prejudices about this group are that they are dangerous, unstable, vague and even that they are responsible for their own disorder. 17,18 This set of beliefs imply that people identify with them through an internalization process, identified as selfesteem. People with SMI see their life even more limited by their own beliefs about themselves.…”

A systematic review of the pharmacological modulation of autobiographical memory specificity

“…Understanding the factors that contribute to and potentially ameliorate dysfunction in AM specificity using the AMT and pharmacological tools could have implications for the treatment (or prevention) of several psychological disorders. In particular, if overgeneral AM has a causal role in symptom maintenance or deterioration (Hallford et al, 2021 ), (psycho)pharmacological treatments that reverse this dysfunction could be employed in the treatment of personality disorders (Startup et al, 2001 ), schizophrenia (Corcoran and Frith, 2003 ; Barry et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ), obsessive compulsion (Spinhoven et al, 2009 ), depression (Dalgleish and Werner-Seidler, 2014 ), and traumatic stress disorders (Schönfeld and Ehlers, 2006 ; Schönfeld et al, 2007 ).…”