Perceived need for neuropsychological assessment according to geographic location: A survey of Australian youth mental health clinicians

Current Evidence and Theories in Understanding the Relationship between Cognition and Depression in Childhood and Adolescence: A Narrative Review

“…In fact, although a lot of evidence has described impairments in different cognitive domains in adolescents with MDD, affecting inhibition capacity, verbal fluency, attention, verbal/spatial memory, working memory, EF, psychomotor and processing speed, negative attentional bias from emotional stimuli, negative interpretation biases and overgeneralized autobiographical memories) [ 90 , 136 , 137 , 138 ], other studies failed to clearly detect cognitive impairments in these young populations, suggesting that more research is needed to clarify the relationship between depression and cognitive impairments in children and adolescents [ 139 , 140 ]. Since cognitive impairments in children and adolescents with MDD are very heterogeneous if compared to adult MDD patients, with unclear effect sizes [ 137 ], and without a definitive consensus regarding the presence of a specific cognitive profile in subjects at risk for depression [ 141 ], an urgent need is to provide an effective early identification of cognitive deficits in childhood and adolescence in the premorbid phase of MDD [ 137 , 142 ]. Thus, it is not surprising that our research was limited in a substantial manner since, excluding the majority of the studies having involved adult populations, only recently the research focus has moved to childhood or adolescence stages, with the idea that these phases are crucial developmental stages associated with heightened risk for the onset of MDD [ 60 ].…”