Hitchcock & Dalgleish: Memory, Depression and Anxiety. In Oxford Handbook of Human Memory.

Depression and anxiety are associated with the interrupted operation of a number of different memory systems. Two memory systems in particular appear to be integral to the maintenance and continuation of symptoms; working memory and autobiographical memory. Within working memory, those experiencing poor mental health appear to have a reduced ability to store and manipulate both visual and spatial information, relative to their healthy counterparts. Working memory appears to be particularly impaired for emotional material. As such, novel interventions have emerged to improve working memory deficits in the mentally unwell, with the most promising results found for emotional working memory programs. Autobiographical memory has long been understood to play a key role in the onset and perpetuation of depression and anxiety, and techniques to edit autobiographical memory feature in our gold-standard psychological treatments for depression and anxiety. Voluntary retrieval of autobiographical memories of specific, single incident events is impaired, as is retrieval of memories that are positive in emotional valence. Individuals experiencing both depression and anxiety also report increased involuntary retrieval of autobiographical memories. This chapter discusses how current treatments target autobiographical memories to decrease symptoms, and introduces the new, science-driven memory interventions which seek to improve our treatment options for depression and anxiety.