Contemporary research studies regarding autobiographical memory (AM) indicate that its deficits have a significant impact on the development of mental disorders. We find particularly many reports regarding the comorbidity of AM deficits and depressive disorders. The characteristic feature of AM in the people suffering from depressive disorders is the presence of overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM), i.e. the reminiscences which contain a summary of many emotion-laden situations, yet without significant detail. This type of reminiscences is observed in the patients with depressive disorders and the ones susceptible to the disease but not experiencing presently an episode of depression, as well as the ones being in the phase of disease remission. In recent years, the interest in the significance of negative thinking processes, such as ruminations, as risk factors in the development of depression has been growing. It is emphasized that they are significantly associated with the occurrence of OGM. Research shows that people suffering from OGM and characterised by a rumination-based style of processing experience a greater number of depressive episodes. There are also research studies which confirm that the activities aimed at reducing the number of ruminations influence an improvement of the detail level of reminiscences. These data may serve as valuable therapeutic advice in depression disorders. The aim of the paper is to present results of contemporary research regarding mutual interrelations between autobiographical memory dysfunctions and the occurrence of symptoms of depression and its course.
Keywords: autobiographical memory; depression; overgeneral autobiographical memory.