Intrusive memories of negative events in depression: is the centrality of the event important?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Following stressful events, there is evidence that the degree to which the event is perceived as central to one's identity and forms a reference point for the attribution of meaning to other events (i.e., "centrality of events") is associated with depression symptoms. However, these findings have primarily come from cross-sectional studies of undergraduate samples, and no past study has investigated whether centrality predicts depression over time. We sought to further examine the role of centrality of negative autobiographical events that were the content of intrusive memories in depression. METHODS At Time 1, participants (clinically depressed, recovered and never-depressed) were interviewed and completed self-report measures of depression symptoms, intrusive memories and features, centrality, and avoidance. At Time 2 (six months later), depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed. RESULTS Unexpectedly, the three groups did not differ on centrality ratings. Centrality was not associated with concurrent depression symptoms and was not predictive of depression at follow-up. However, as expected, centrality ratings were positively correlated with important intrusive memory variables including memory intrusiveness, and rumination. LIMITATIONS The correlational nature of our design prevents us from establishing the causal direction of the relationships reported. CONCLUSIONS The degree to which intrusively recalled events are seen as central to identity might not play as important a role in depression as previously expected. Future centrality research needs to take memory frequency/intrusiveness into account before drawing conclusions about the role of this variable in depression.