The present study intends to point out the benefits of the integration between basic research and psychotherapy. Autobiographic memories of depressed patients were emphasized, which are characterized by being overgeneral (i. e., extremely generic and unespecific). Among the consequences of the tendency for overgeneral mnemonic processing there are the difficulties to imagine the future, deficits in problem solving skills, facilitation of the perpetuation of ruminative processes and suicidal acts. Implications for cognitive therapy on depression turns around the need to emphasize the specificity, whether they are related to past situations or to future desired circumstances.
Depression; memory; cognitive therapy