Cognitive deficits in major depression: Characteristics, role, and relevance

Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects how we process, attend to, and manage information. This can include cognition for emotionally relevant information (hot cognition, e.g. negative cognitive biases) but also basic cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and planning, which occur in the absence of apparent emotionally relevant information (cold cognition). These cold cognitive functions are an important yet often lesser-considered component of MDD. Cold cognitive deficits can be involved in the onset and maintenance of the depressive cycle as well as psychosocial impairments. This chapter focuses on a review of cold cognitive deficits in MDD, with recommendations for applying these insights to the persuasion and communication literature. Three specific recommendations are presented to help augment the design and evaluation of mental health messages: (a) use brief, clear messaging to avoid overloading cognitive resources; (b) consider the selection of efficacy measures in mental health messaging, given the potential for cognitive deficits or treatment attitudes and expectations in MDD to serve as barriers to intended or actual treatment-seeking behavior; and (c) develop mental health messages that account for the multifaceted presentation of MDD to better reflect the experiences and concerns of individuals. Such recommendations are intended to optimize help seeking for depression.