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The Unique Cognitive Limitation in Subclinical Depression: The Impairment of Mental Model Construction

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Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition

Part of the book series: The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality ((SSHE))

Abstract

The notion of “depression” is frequently employed to describe a broader category of depressive symptoms, dysphoria, and the depression syndrome as such (Joormann, 2005). Numerous debates in the literature have addressed the issue of continuity, the question of whether moderate depression symptoms (called subclinical depression) differ quantitatively or qualitatively from severe clinical depression. Flett, Vredenburg, and Kramses (1997) drew up a summary indicating that the available data is generally consistent with the hypothesis of continuity. In this chapter, we review data from studies in which subclinical forms of depressive disorders were taken into account: those that are mild in terms of severity. Depression is then seen as an affective disorder characterized by persistent negative mood (without an elevated level of arousal) and specific deficits in cognitive functioning. These deficits include “ruminative” thinking, recurring ideas and thoughts with negative or self-devaluing content. Such deficits also involve individuals with depression experiencing difficulty in solving complex cognitive problems, and solving problems that require reasoning about deeper social relations.

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Acknowledgments

Preparation of this article was supported by MNiSW grants N N106040534 and N106 017 31/1344.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, Warsaw School of Social Psychology and Humanities, Chodakowska 19/31, 03-815, Warsaw, Poland

    Grzegorz Sedek & Aneta Brzezicka

  2. School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK

    Ulrich von Hecker

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  1. Grzegorz Sedek
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  2. Aneta Brzezicka
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  3. Ulrich von Hecker
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Correspondence to Grzegorz Sedek .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Al. Mickiewicza 3, Cracow, 31-120, Poland

    Aleksandra Gruszka

  2. Dept. Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Dyer Hall 217, Cincinnati, 45221, USA

    Gerald Matthews

  3. Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Al. Mickiewicza 3, Cracow, 31-120, Poland

    Blazej Szymura

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Sedek, G., Brzezicka, A., von Hecker, U. (2010). The Unique Cognitive Limitation in Subclinical Depression: The Impairment of Mental Model Construction. In: Gruszka, A., Matthews, G., Szymura, B. (eds) Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition. The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1210-7_20

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