Linguistic analysis of the autobiographical memories of individuals with major depressive disorder

Abstract

BackgroundMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by biases in memory, attention, and cognition. The present study utilized the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to examine the content of specific autobiographical memories (AMs) recalled by individuals with MDD during an autobiographical memory task.MethodsWe examined various features of the text (including use of affective, cognitive, and self-referential terms), as well as their associations with clinical and cognitive features of MDD (depression severity, autobiographical memory specificity, amygdala activity), in 45 unmedicated adults with MDD compared to 61 healthy controls.ResultsWhen recalling positive memories MDD individuals used the word “I” less, fewer positive words, more words indicating present focus (present tense verbs), and fewer words overall to describe memories compared to controls. When recalling negative memories, MDD individuals used “I” more, more words indicating present focus, and more words overall to describe memories relative to controls. Depression severity was correlated with word count, the use of “I”, and words indicating present focus in negative memories and inversely correlated with word count and the use of “I” in positive memories. Autobiographical memory specificity was correlated with word count, the use of “I”, and words indicating present focus for positive memories and inversely correlated with the use of “I” and words indicating present focus for negative memories.LimitationsDue to the nature of AM recall, we could not control for the number of memories which participants recalled in each mnemonic category.ConclusionsResults align with literature implicating rumination and intensive self-focus in depression and suggest that interventions targeting specific word use may be therapeutically beneficial in the treatment of MDD.

Interpersonal Focus in the Emotional Autobiographical Memories of Older and Younger Adults

“…Researchers studying personal narratives have embraced computerized text analysis (e.g., Cox & McAdams, 2019; Himmelstein, Barb, Finlayson, & Young, 2018; Hirsh & Peterson, 2009), which complements more traditional self-report and narrative coding approaches. For example, directly comparing computerized text analysis and narrative coding reveals that they capture distinct information and independently predict outcomes (Weston et al, 2016).…”

Towards Using Word Embedding Vector Space for Better Cohort Analysis

“…However, both groups used high rates of negative emotional content, suggesting that this negative emotional signal alone is not enough to characterize suicidal tendencies (Stirman and Pennebaker 2001). Following the trend of the aforementioned studies, other work has shown that, in autobiographical memories, people with depression used more "I" words, more words related to the present tense and more words overall when recalling negative memories compared to when recalling positive memories (Himmelstein et al 2018).…”

The language of healthcare worker emotional exhaustion: A linguistic analysis of longitudinal survey

“…Psychological research on linguistic categories has revealed compelling linguistic patterns based on personal well-being (22)(23)(24)31) and one's work culture (21). More specifically, two studies have examined the link between language and EE or burnout.…”

“…Depressed individuals have been shown to use more words overall, and more first person singular (e.g., I, me, and mine), and present focus (e.g., today, is, now) when describing negative memories. For positive memories, they used more present focus, but fewer words overall, and fewer first person singular and positive words (31). Lastly, in a study of HCW's capacity to conduct quality 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1044378 improvement activities, called improvement readiness, higher readiness was associated with a lower word count (WC; i.e., number of words), greater use of positive emotions, social words (e.g., mate, talk, and they), and first person plural (e.g., we, us, our; at the level of a trend), and less first person singular, past tense verbs (e.g., ago, did, talked), and negative emotion (including the subcategories of anxiety, anger, and sadness) (21).…”