Memories and Depression

Article: Returning To Bad Memories Linked To Depression In Women

According to a recent study, women are more likely to become depressed due to the way they deal with negative memories. Women who tested high for neuroticism tended to mull over negative thoughts over and over in their heads. This is called "rumination." Also, women who tended to suppress negative memories often just kept thinking about them and then feel bad for thinking about them. This was not apparent in the same studies conducted on men. This study suggests that learning to deal with negative memories in a healthy way can actually prevent depression in the long run. Instead of suppressing bad memories, one should "reappraise" them. This basically means finding the good that came out of the bad. It essentially means looking at the glass half-full rather than half-empty. Reappraisal will help "interrupt" harmful rumination and could prevent the development of clinical disorders (i.e. depression) in the future.