Introduction: Major depressive disorder is a disabling illness that involves affect and cognition of a person, negatively influencing social and work functioning. Cognitive deficits are often present in depression, although they are often believed to be secondary to typical depressive symptoms.
Aim: A detailed literature review has been carried out to assess the cognitive deficits identified in people with major depressive disorder and identify specific assessment tools used for their evaluation.
Methods: Using key-words, we selected papers published on Embase and PubMed/Medline, with a particular reference to those published in the last five years.
Results: The literature review confirmed that cognitive deficits are one of the most important causes of social disfunctioning in patients with major depressive disorder. Cognitive deficits can be observed already in the first depressive episode. Assessment tools for cognitive deficits are scarcely used in clinical practice.
Conclusion: There is a need to identify cognitive deficits in people with major depressive disorder and their relation with social and work functioning, quality of life and risk of relapse as well as to assess the effects of therapeutic intervention on cognitive performance. To achieve this purpose, it is important to use appropriate and sensitive tools for the assessment of cognitive deficits.