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Nijdam MJ, Gersons BP, Olff M. The role of major depression in neurocognitive functioning in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2013;4doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.19979.
Nijdam, M. J., Gersons, B. P., & Olff, M. (2013). The role of major depression in neurocognitive functioning in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. European journal of psychotraumatology, 4. https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.19979
Nijdam, Mirjam J, et al. "The role of major depression in neurocognitive functioning in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder." European journal of psychotraumatology vol. 4 (2013). doi: https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.19979
Nijdam MJ, Gersons BP, Olff M. The role of major depression in neurocognitive functioning in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2013 May 02;4. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.19979. Print 2013. PMID: 23671761; PMCID: PMC3644057.
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Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2013 May 02;4. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.19979. Print 2013.

The role of major depression in neurocognitive functioning in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder.

European journal of psychotraumatology

Mirjam J Nijdam, Berthold P R Gersons, Miranda Olff

Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

PMID: 23671761 PMCID: PMC3644057 DOI: 10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.19979

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) frequently co-occur after traumatic experiences and share neurocognitive disturbances in verbal memory and executive functioning. However, few attempts have been made to systematically assess the role of a comorbid MDD diagnosis in neuropsychological studies in PTSD.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study is to investigate neurocognitive deficits in PTSD patients with and without MDD. We hypothesized that PTSD patients with comorbid MDD (PTSD+MDD) would have significantly lower performance on measures of verbal memory and executive functioning than PTSD patients without MDD (PTSD-MDD).

METHOD: Participants included in this study were 140 treatment-seeking outpatients who had a diagnosis of PTSD after various single traumatic events and participated in a randomized controlled trial comparing different treatment types. Baseline neuropsychological data were compared between patients with PTSD+MDD (n=84) and patients with PTSD-MDD (n=56).

RESULTS: The PTSD+MDD patients had more severe verbal memory deficits in learning and retrieving words than patients with PTSD alone. There were no differences between the groups in recall of a coherent paragraph, recognition, shifting of attention, and cognitive interference.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that a more impaired neurocognitive profile may be associated with the presence of comorbid MDD, with medium-sized group differences for verbal memory but not for executive functioning. From a clinical standpoint, being aware that certain verbal memory functions are more restricted in patients with comorbid PTSD and MDD may be relevant for treatment outcome of trauma-focused psychotherapy.

Keywords: PTSD; cognitive functioning; comorbidity; major depressive disorder; neuropsychology

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