“Walnuts” the new brain food for stressed university students

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Arun Kumar

Stressed university students might want to add walnuts to their daily diet in the weeks leading up to their next exam.

A new clinical trial of undergraduate students during their university studies has shown positive effects of walnut consumption on self-reported measures of mental health and biomarkers of general health.

The University of South Australia study, published in the journal Nutrients, also suggests that walnuts may counteract the effects of academic stress on the gut microbiota during periods of stress, especially in females.

Lead researchers, PhD student Mauritz Herselman and Associate Professor Larisa Bobrovskaya, say the results add to the growing body of evidence linking walnuts with improved brain and gut health.

Walnuts may counteract the effects of academic stress on the gut microbiota during periods of stress, especially in women./CREDIT:Open Verse

“Students experience academic stress throughout their studies, which has a negative effect on their mental health, and they are particularly vulnerable during exam periods,” Herselman says.

Eighty undergraduate students split into treatment and control groups were clinically assessed in three intervals, at the beginning of a 13-week university semester, during the examination period and two weeks after the examination period. Those in the treatment group were given walnuts to consume daily for 16 weeks over these three intervals.

“We found that those who consumed about half a cup of walnuts every day showed improvements in self-reported mental health indicators. Walnut consumers also showed improved metabolic biomarkers and overall sleep quality in the longer term.”

Students in the control group reported increased stress and depression levels in the leadup to exams but those in the treatment group did not. The walnut consumers also reported a significant drop in feelings associated with depression between the first and final visits, compared to the controls.

Previous research has shown that walnuts are full of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, as well as melatonin (sleep inducing hormone), polyphenols, folate and vitamin E, all of which promote a healthy brain and gut.

“The World Health Organization has recently stated that at least 75 per cent of mental health disorders affect people under the age of 24 years, making undergraduate students particularly vulnerable to mental health problems,” Herselman says.

Assoc Prof Larisa Bobrovskaya says mental health disorders are common in university students and can adversely affect students’ academic performance and long-term physical health.

“We have shown that consuming walnuts during stressful periods can improve mental health and general wellbeing in university students, as well as being a healthy and delicious snack and a versatile ingredient in many recipes, to fight some negative effects of academic stress,” Assoc Prof Bobrovskaya says.

“Due to fewer numbers of males in the study, more research is needed to establish sex-dependent effects of walnuts and academic stress in university students. It’s also possible that a placebo effect might have come into play as this was not a blind study.”

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Did the pandemic change our personalities? Increased neuroticism among young adults seen: Study

Posted on September 29, 2022 by Srinivas Chakravarty

Despite a long-standing hypothesis that personality traits are relatively impervious to environmental pressures, the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered the trajectory of personality across the United States, especially in younger adults, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Angelina Sutin of Florida State University College of Medicine, and colleagues.

Previous studies have generally found no associations between collective stressful events—such as earthquakes and hurricanes—and personality change. However, the coronavirus pandemic has affected the entire globe and nearly every aspect of life.

In the new study, the researchers used longitudinal assessments of personality from 7,109 people enrolled in the online Understanding America Study. They compared five-factor model personality traits—neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness—between pre-pandemic measurements (May 2014 – February 2020) and assessments early (March – December 2020) or later (2021-2022) in the pandemic. A total of 18,623 assessments, or a mean of 2.62 per participant, were analyzed. Participants were 41.2% male and ranged in age from 18 to 109.

A crowd of people at a pedestrian crossing./CREDIT:Brian Merrill, Pixabay, CC0(https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

Consistent with other studies, there were relatively few changes between pre-pandemic and 2020 personality traits, with only a small decline in neuroticism. However, there were declines in extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness when 2021-2022 data was compared to pre-pandemic personality. The changes were about one-tenth of a standard deviation, which is equivalent to about one decade of normative personality change. The changes were moderated by age, with younger adults showing disrupted maturity in the form of increased neuroticism and decreased agreeableness and conscientiousness, and the oldest group of adults showing no statistically significant changes in traits.

The authors conclude that if these changes are enduring, it suggests that population-wide stressful events can slightly bend the trajectory of personality, especially in younger adults.

The authors add: “There was limited personality change early in the pandemic but striking changes starting in 2021. Of most note, the personality of young adults changed the most, with marked increases in neuroticism and declines in agreeableness and conscientiousness. That is, younger adults became moodier and more prone to stress, less cooperative and trusting, and less restrained and responsible.”

Meal timing may influence mood vulnerability; Daytime eating benefits mental health

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Pallavi Guha

“Our findings provide evidence for the timing of food intake as a novel strategy to potentially minimize mood vulnerability in individuals experiencing circadian misalignment, such as people engaged in shift work, experiencing jet lag, or suffering from circadian rhythm disorders,” said co-corresponding author Frank A. J. L. Scheer, PhD, Director of the Medical Chronobiology Program in the Brigham’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders. “Future studies in shift workers and clinical populations are required to firmly establish if changes in meal timing can prevent their increased mood vulnerability. Until then, our study brings a new ‘player’ to the table: the timing of food intake matters for our mood.”

Shift workers account for up to 20 percent of the workforce in industrial societies and are directly responsible for many hospital services, factory work, and other essential services. Shift workers often experience a misalignment between their central circadian clock in the brain and daily behaviors, such as sleep/wake and fasting/eating cycles. Importantly, they also have a 25 to 40 percent higher risk of depression and anxiety.

Eating/Photo:en.wikipedia.org

“Shift workers — as well as individuals experiencing circadian disruption, including jet lag — may benefit from our meal timing intervention,” said co-corresponding author Sarah L. Chellappa, MD, PhD, who completed work on this project while at the Brigham.“Our findings open the door for a novel sleep/circadian behavioral strategy that might also benefit individuals experiencing mental health disorders. Our study adds to a growing body of evidence finding that strategies that optimize sleep and circadian rhythms may help promote mental health.”

To conduct the study, Scheer, Chellappa, and colleagues enrolled 19 participants (12 men and 7 women) for a randomized controlled study. Participants underwent a Forced Desynchrony protocol in dim light for four 28-hour “days,” such that by the fourth “day” their behavioral cycles were inverted by 12 hours, simulating night work and causing circadian misalignment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two meal timing groups: the Daytime and Nighttime Meal Control Group, which had meals according to a 28-hour cycle (resulting in eating both during the night and day, which is typical among night workers), and the Daytime-Only Meal Intervention Group, which had meals on a 24-hour cycle (resulting in eating only during the day). The team assessed depression- and anxiety-like mood levels every hour.

food

The team found that meal timing significantly affected the participants’ mood levels. During the simulated night shift (day 4), those in the Daytime and Nighttime Meal Control Group had increased depression-like mood levels and anxiety-like mood levels, compared to baseline (day 1). In contrast, there were no changes in mood in the Daytime Meal Intervention Group during the simulated night shift. Participants with a greater degree of circadian misalignment experienced more depression– and anxiety-like mood.

“Meal timing is emerging as an important aspect of nutrition that may influence physical health,” said Chellappa. “But the causal role of the timing of food intake on mental health remains to be tested. Future studies are required to establish if changes in meal timing can help individuals experiencing depressive and anxiety/anxiety-related disorders.”

Depression and early old age go hand-in-hand, finds study

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Pallavi Guha

Amid increasing instances of depression among the celebrities, common people and even teenagers, psychologists at the University of Sussex have come up with a new dimension to the alarming mental health issue saying the brain ages faster when people undergo frequent depression.

Depression is the leading cause of mental ill health across the world with more than 300 million people suffering from it with an estimated increase of more than 18% between 2005 and 2015, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

Earlier studies found that people with depression or anxiety have an increased risk of dementia in later life, leading to decline in overall cognitive function. The new study extrapolates it to showcase a direct link with early old age as well. Dementia is expected to grow substantially over the next 30 years.

After a review of 34 longitudinal studies, with data available from 71,000 participants, the study measured the rate of decline of overall cognitive state resulting in memory loss, poor decision making and slow information processing in older adults. It has excluded dementia as past studies have already established its link with old age.

The study found that people with depression faced imminent and greater decline in cognitive functions inold age than those without depression.

Lead researchers Darya Gaysina and Amber John from the EDGE Lab at the University of Sussex have stressed on dealing with depression effectively since the implications at a later stage may prove irreversible.

“This study is of great importance – our populations are ageing at a rapid rate and the number of people living with decreasing cognitive abilities,” said Gaysina.

Amber John, who carried out this research for her PhD at the University of Sussex adds: “People living with depression shouldn’t despair – it’s not inevitable that you will see a greater decline in cognitive abilities and taking preventative measures.”

Some of the preventive measures she suggested include regular exercising, practicing mindfulness and undertaking recommended therapeutic treatments, such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

The study was published in the journal Psychological Medicine.

What WHO says on Depression?

Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to daily life-style challenges. It reflects in symptoms ranging from depressed mood, loss of interest and enjoyment, and reduced energy levels for at least two weeks.

Some of them may even experience anxiety, disturbed sleep and loss of appetite, feelings of guilt or low self-esteem, poor concentration and even medically unexplained symptoms.

At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youngsters between 15 and 29 years of age. Seeking early medical intervention is a must in such cases.

Deleting Facebook cuts stress levels but depression stalks, says study

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Arun Kumar

Facebook, which had admitted to sharing 50 million users’ data with political research tool Cambridge Analytica in 2015, is facing another challenge from the health experts, that too from the universities.

Researchers from the University of Queensland have taken a look at cutting out on Facebook for five days and measuring the
level of stress harmone cortisol, which has actually come down. But to their surprise, most of the participants were feeling low at the end of it and unhappy with their ‘life without Facebook’.

A University of Queensland research team led by Dr Eric Vanman of the School of Psychology, investigated the effects of a short break from Facebook on a person’s stress levels and encountered psychological impact as well. “Taking a Facebook break for just five days reduced a person’s level of the stress hormone cortisol,” Dr Vanman said.

“However, while participants in our study showed an improvement in physiological stress by giving up Facebook, they also reported lower feelings of well-being. People said they felt more unsatisfied with their life, and were looking forward to resuming their Facebook activity.”

Dr Vanman said that could be because physically the carisol harmone levels reduced but psychologically peple did not feel that way due to the social disconnect they had to suffer during the period. "People’s own ratings of their stress did not change — perhaps because they weren’t aware their stress had gone down,” he said.

Essentially, people felt less content with their lives, when they were cut off from Facebook for five days at a stretch, probably from the resulting social disconnection of being cut-off from their Facebook friends. However, Vanman was quick to add that this feeling is not necessarily confined to facebook but probably anytime they take a break from their favourite social media platforms.

In their study, two groups of active users of Facebook, with one group instructed to stay off Facebook for five days and the other group using Facebook as normal were employed. All 138 participants in the study provided saliva samples at the beginning and end of the study to measure changes in their cortisol levels.

Dr Vanman, who had recently quit Facebook hit upon the idea and his friends joined him soon. “When I told colleagues about my ‘Facebook vacations’, I found I wasn’t alone,” he said. “Others admitted that they took similar breaks from Facebook when they found it too stressful or overwhelming – quitting Facebook for several days or weeks but then reconnecting.

He recollected the incident when a female student kept herself off Facebook and asked her friend to change the password so she wouldn’t be tempted to come back. After two months, she broke down and got the password from her friend, he said.
“Facebook has become an essential social tool for millions of users and it obviously provides many benefits. Yet, because it conveys so much social information about a large network of people, it can also be taxing. It seems that people take a break because they’re too stressed, but return to Facebook whenever they feel unhappy because they have been cut off from their friends.

The study has been published in the Journal of Social Psychology.

Dr. Eric Vanman of University of Queensland

Living in high altitudes? Beware of depression, suicide risks

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Pallavi Guha

Hilly areas like Himachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand or high-altitude cities such as Bangalore, Dehradun or Shimla may be picturesque and increase health and happiness but researchers have found recently that people living in the high-altitude areas are prone to depression and increased rates of suicide, due to decline in oxygen levels in their blood.

Known as Chronic hypobaric hypoxia, the condition is seen when blood oxygen levels decline due to low atmospheric pressure, which in turn trigger suicidal thoughts among the people living in altitudes of more than 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea level.

Suicide and major depressive disorder (MDD) are caused by sociodemographic and environmental conditions, said Brent Michael Kious, researcher at the University of Utah. Hypobaric hypoxia increases depression by altering serotonin metabolism and brain bioenergetics, said the study, published in the journal Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

Apart from these factors, sociodemographic and environmental conditions lead to suicide and major depressive disorder (MDD), noted the study. As of social conditions, several factors such as increased poverty rate, lower income, and divorce among women have been high in the list of immediate triggers to depression and suicide.

Researchers analysed 12 studies in the US, including demograhic data to arrive at the findings about the relationship between suicide or depression and altitude. Those living at higher altitudes had increased suicide rates despite being healthy overall, including less substance abuse and cultural differences, said the study.

Depression can be treated with medical intervention at early states to mitigate the effects of altitude providing 5-hydroxytryptophan, which increases serotonin levels, or creatinine to influence brain bioenergetics, the study noted.

So, those living in hill stations in India located in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya in the Himalayas and in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala should watch their health now from these factors.

Some of the specific cities which are at a high altitude are:

Srinagar (J&K)

Jammu (J&K)

Shimla (HP)

Dehradun (Uttarakhand)

Badrinath (Uttarakhand)

Shillong (Meghalaya)

Darjeeling (West Bengal)

Bangalore (Karnataka)

Ooty (Tamil Nadu)

Araku (AP)

Ileana Once Thought of Committing Suicide!

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Arun Kumar

Hindi and Telugu actress Ileana D’Cruz revealed that she once thought of committing suicide due to depression and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. However, she had overcome the illness and started feeling better.

Speaking at the 21st World Congress of Mental Health in New Delhi on Sunday, November 5, Ileana told Organising Chairman Sunil Mittal on her fight with depression and Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Ileana was awarded the Woman of Substance Award for her efforts towards raising awareness about mental health at the event. The World Congress was organised by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), a global alliance of doctors, health associations, NGOs, policy experts and other institutions.

She said she was always a very self-conscious person and used to feel low and sad all the time but didn’t know that she was suffering from depression and Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

“At one point, I even had suicidal thoughts and wanted to end things. However, all of it changed when I accepted myself and what I was going through. I think that is the first step towards fighting depression,” she revealed.

Ileana, who shot to fame with Telugu film ‘Pokiri’ and Hindi films ‘Barfi!’ and ‘Rustom’ joins another Bollywood fame Deepika Padukone who had revealed openly about her fight to overcome depression a year ago. Ileana reiterated that people shouldn’t shy away from seeking help for depression.

“It is a chemical imbalance in your brain, and needs to be treated. Don’t sit back and think it will get okay but go get help. Like you have a sprain and go get yourself checked, if you have depression, seek help,” she said.

Ileana said her mother was her biggest pillar of strength throughout the period of depression. Speaking about her fans, “You may look at us actors and think that ‘Oh my God, they are so pretty, so perfect’. But that’s not how it is. It takes two hours to get ready and look like this. Love yourself for who you are and trust me if you are happy from within, you are the most beautiful person and your smile is your best asset.”

She said she wanted to open up about her depression to help those who can overcome similar problem looking at her as inspiration.

One hour of exercise a week can prevent depression

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Arun Kumar

A landmark study led by the Black Dog Institute has revealed that regular exercise of any intensity can prevent future depression – and just one hour can help.

Published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the results show even small amounts of exercise can protect against depression, with mental health benefits seen regardless of age or gender.

In the largest and most extensive study of its kind, the analysis involved 33,908 Norwegian adults who had their levels of exercise and symptoms of depression and anxiety monitored over 11 years.

The international research team found that 12 percent of cases of depression could have been prevented if participants undertook just one hour of physical activity each week.

“We’ve known for some time that exercise has a role to play in treating symptoms of depression, but this is the first time we have been able to quantify the preventative potential of physical activity in terms of reducing future levels of depression,” said lead author Associate Professor Samuel Harvey from Black Dog Institute and UNSW.

“These findings are exciting because they show that even relatively small amounts of exercise – from one hour per week – can deliver significant protection against depression.

“We are still trying to determine exactly why exercise can have this protective effect, but we believe it is from the combined impact of the various physical and social benefits of physical activity.

“These results highlight the great potential to integrate exercise into individual mental health plans and broader public health campaigns. If we can find ways to increase the population’s level of physical activity even by a small amount, then this is likely to bring substantial physical and mental health benefits.”

The findings follow the Black Dog Institute’s recent Exercise Your Mood campaign, which ran throughout September and encouraged Australians to improve their physical and mental wellbeing through exercise.

Researchers used data from the Health Study of Nord-Trøndelag County (HUNT study) – one of the largest and most comprehensive population-based health surveys ever undertaken – which was conducted between January 1984 and June 1997.

A healthy cohort of participants was asked at baseline to report the frequency of exercise they participated in and at what intensity: without becoming breathless or sweating, becoming breathless and sweating, or exhausting themselves. At follow-up stage, they completed a self-report questionnaire (the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) to indicate any emerging anxiety or depression.

The research team also accounted for variables which might impact the association between exercise and common mental illness. These include socio-economic and demographic factors, substance use, body mass index, new onset physical illness and perceived social support.

Results showed that people who reported doing no exercise at all at baseline had a 44% increased chance of developing depression compared to those who were exercising one to two hours a week.

However, these benefits did not carry through to protecting against anxiety, with no association identified between level and intensity of exercise and the chances of developing the disorder.

According to the Australian Health Survey, 20 percent of Australian adults do not undertake any regular physical activity, and more than a third spend less than 1.5 hours per week being physically active. At the same time, around 1 million Australians have depression, with one in five Australians aged 16-85 experiencing a mental illness in any year.

“Most of the mental health benefits of exercise are realised within the first hour undertaken each week,” said Associate Professor Harvey.

“With sedentary lifestyles becoming the norm worldwide, and rates of depression growing, these results are particularly pertinent as they highlight that even small lifestyle changes can reap significant mental health benefits.”

Smartphone apps reduce depression

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Arun Kumar

New Australian-led research has confirmed that smartphone apps are an effective treatment option for depression, paving the way for safe and accessible interventions for the millions of people around the world diagnosed with this condition.

Depression is the most prevalent mental disorder and a leading cause of global disability, with mental health services worldwide struggling to meet the demand for treatment.

In an effort to tackle this rising challenge, researchers from Australia’s National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), Harvard Medical School, The University of Manchester, and the Black Dog Institute in Australia examined the efficacy of smartphone-based treatments for depression.

The researchers systematically reviewed 18 randomised controlled trials which examined a total of 22 different smartphone-delivered mental health interventions.

The studies involved more than 3400 male and female participants between the ages of 18-59 with a range of mental health symptoms and conditions including major depression, mild to moderate depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and insomnia.

The first of its kind research, published today in World Psychiatry found that overall smartphone apps significantly reduced people’s depressive symptoms, suggesting these new digital therapies can be useful for managing the condition.

Lead author of the paper, NICM postdoctoral research fellow Joseph Firth says this was an important finding which presented a new opportunity for providing accessible and affordable care for patients who might not otherwise have access to treatment.

“The majority of people in developed countries own smartphones, including younger people who are increasingly affected by depression,” said Mr Firth.

“Combined with the rapid technological advances in this area, these devices may ultimately be capable of providing instantly accessible and highly effective treatments for depression, reducing the societal and economic burden of this condition worldwide.”

Co-author, NICM deputy director, Professor Jerome Sarris highlighted the importance of the findings for opening up non-stigmatising and self-managing avenues of care.

“The data shows us that smartphones can help people monitor, understand and manage their own mental health. Using apps as part of an ‘integrative medicine’ approach for depression has been demonstrated to be particularly useful for improving mood and tackling symptoms in these patients,” said Professor Sarris.

When it comes to the question of “Which app is best?” and “For who?”, the results suggested these interventions so far may be most applicable to those with mild to moderate depression, as the benefits in major depression have not been widely studied as of yet.

The researchers found no difference in apps which apply principles of mindfulness compared to cognitive behavioural therapy or mood monitoring programs.

However, interventions that used entirely ‘self-contained’ apps – meaning the app did not reply on other aspects such as clinician and computer feedback – were found to be significantly more effective than ‘non-self-contained’ apps.

The authors suggested this might be due to the comprehensiveness of these particular stand-alone apps rather than the combination of therapies.

Despite the promising early results, there is currently no evidence to suggest that using apps alone can outperform standard psychological therapies, or reduce the need for antidepressant medications.

According to co-author and co-director of the digital psychiatry program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a clinical fellow in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr John Torous, the research is a timely and promising step forward in the use of smartphones in mental health.

“Patients and doctors are faced with a vast array of mental health apps these days, and knowing which ones are actually helpful is imperative,” said Dr Torous.

“This research provides much needed information on the effectiveness of apps for depression, and offers important clues into the types of apps which can help patients manage their condition.”

Jennifer Nicholas, a PhD Candidate at Black Dog Institute and co-author of the paper says with the knowledge that apps can be effective for managing depression, future research must now investigate which features produce these beneficial effects.

“Given the multitude of apps available – many of them unregulated – it’s critical that we now unlock which specific app attributes reap the greatest benefits, to help ensure that all apps available to people with depression are effective.”

Depression overshadows the past as well as the present

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Arun Kumar

Depressed people have a peculiar view of the past – rather than glorifying the ‘good old days’, they project their generally bleak outlook on to past events, according to new research.

It is known depression makes sufferers see the present and the future as sad, but this is the first time research has shown it also casts a long shadow over people’s memories of the past.

Psychologists at Germany’s Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf and at the UK’s University of Portsmouth published their research in Clinical Psychological Science.

It establishes the first clear link between depression and hindsight bias, or a distorted view of the past.

Dr Hartmut Blank, in the University of Portsmouth’s Department of Psychology, is one of the authors.

He said: “Depression is not only associated with a negative view of the world, the self and the future, but we now know with a negative view of the past.”

Hindsight bias includes three core elements: exaggerated perceptions of foreseeability – we think we knew all along how events would turn out; inevitability – something ‘had’ to happen; and memory bias – misremembering what we once thought when we know the outcome of something.

Hindsight bias has been studied in various settings, including sports events, political elections, medical diagnoses or bankers’ investment strategies. Until now, it hasn’t been used to study depression.

Dr Blank said: “Everyone is susceptible to hindsight bias, but it takes on a very specific form in depression. While non-depressed people tend to show hindsight bias for positive events but not negative events, people with depression show the reverse pattern.

“Making things worse, depressed people also see negative event outcomes as both foreseeable and inevitable – a toxic combination, reinforcing feelings of helplessness and lack of control that already characterise the experience of people with depression.

“Everyone experiences disappointment and regret from time to time and doing so helps us adapt and grow and to make better decisions. But people with depression struggle to control negative feelings and hindsight bias appears to set up a cycle of misery.

“We have shown hindsight bias in people who are depressed is a further burden on their shoulders, ‘helping’ to sustain the condition in terms of learning the wrong lessons from the past.”

The researchers tested over 100 university students, about half of whom suffered from mild to severe depression. They were asked to imagine themselves in a variety of everyday scenarios with positive or negative outcomes (from different domains of everyday life, e.g. work, performance, family, leisure, social, romantic). For each scenario, the researchers then collected measures of hindsight bias (foreseeability, inevitability and distorted memory for initial expectations).

The results showed that with increasing severity of depression, a specific hindsight bias pattern emerged – exaggerated foreseeability and inevitability of negative (but not positive) event outcomes, as well as a tendency to misremember initial expectations in line with negative outcomes. Characteristically, this ‘depressive hindsight bias’ was strongly related to clinical measures of depressive thinking, suggesting that it is part of a general negative worldview in depression.

Dr Blank said: “This is only a first study to explore the crucial role of hindsight bias in depression; more work needs to be done in different experimental and real-life settings, and also using clinical samples, to further examine and establish the link between hindsight bias and depression.”

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