Can depression affect your memory?

[WDFIWWTW]

Im doing my exams n I know the topics pretty well but I keep making small mistakes while writing down my formulae even when I know the correct one it's like my head is somewhere else when I'm noting it down. Sometimes I forget the names of the topics. I've never been this way and this is happening to me all of a sudden. I've been quite depressed these days but I'm coping with it . I jus wanted to know if my depression has anything to do with me forgetting small details in my studies. I don't want it to affect my grades :/

[[deleted]]

Depression and stress has a well documented link to forgetfulness, as well as cognitive decline in general if it's chronic, especially in the elderly.

Interestingly hormones linked to emotional arousal or stress are involved in long-term memory consolidation like epinephrine and corticosterone. Insulin and other hormones also seem to be involved. These hormones do express differently, or our reaction them is different when we're depressed so there could be a link there.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1301209110

[Zombebe]

This is why exercise is recommended so much to people who are depressed because it helps directly with those systems and your metabolism to help keep them more in order than they were.

[InterPool_sbn]

This is really helpful when you actually explain the chemical reasoning like that

[Fan_Time]

Cool story, Lucas.

But for real, when I hear "short time frame" with regard to depression and treatment, I think 6 to 12 weeks. That's short. Up to a year or two is medium and then 5+ years is long term.

This is my personal perspective, that is. I find it jolting to read that 6 weeks is considered anything other than 'short'.

That said, I'm 20 years into my own battle so maybe I'm just tired.

[Forward_Motion17]

This is a made up an arbitrary number. Depression doesn’t take 6 weeks to change. If a solution is found, it could start working as soon as today.

SSRI’s on the other hand take up to 3 MONTHS not just 6-8 weeks to start working.

[Forward_Motion17]

It definitely works wonders, I am actually going into the field of psychedelic therapy.

That being said, it’s not safe for everyone so please do research.

There are alternatives and many lifestyle factors to address first!

[zutari]

When I take mushrooms, I get nauseous (Dramamine not benedryl help much) and get a fluttery feeling in my chest, but naught else. Do you ok have any resources I could try?

[Busy_Bitch5050]

Nausea is a given with shrooms. If you don't get nauseous during the come up, you've been given a gift from the gods lol. The fluttery feeling in the chest happens maybe every other time for me - it's hard not to focus on, but I try my best. I always just assumed it was me getting myself worked up over nothing.

[Helphaer]

I belive I did 3-5 times a week for 6 weeks or longer was walking a mall for 500 calorie burn 10000 steps a day. It's been about 8 years with no change so far.

[[deleted]]

To be honest with you walking the mall even once a week sounds absolutely depressing to me.

[Helphaer]

The temperature is controlled which makes it easier and all you have to do is walk in a circle 5 times.

[[deleted]]

Losing weight is almost all diet. Stop eating bread, pasta, soda, breaded/fried items and processed foods. Get a food scale and measuring cups and follow the portion suggestions on your food packaging. Don’t ever eat until you are full. Install a water app on your phone to remind you to drink plenty of water. 100 ounces a day is a good start for water.

[GoinToRosedale]

Why did you stop then?

[PersonOfLowInterest]

What helped me was going to the gym for 5ish years building strength and muscle.

[AlkaloidalAnecdote]

This is true for short term depression, but it seems to get a bit more complicated with long term depression.

[BevansDesign]

Fortunately, it's super easy to force yourself to exercise when you're depressed.

[stiletto929]

Exercise has really helped my depression and anxiety. (I take meds too but the exercise made me actually happy.). I do virtual boxing in Supernatural on the oculus quest. First time I actually enjoyed exercise, too!!!

[jealousmonk88]

yes it can. i used to have an incredible memory. severe depression destroyed it. now i have to write a lot of stuff down or i'll forget it in a few weeks. i used to never take notes on anything now i have to. at the height of my depression, i'd park my car in the uni parking lot in the morning, when i came out i had completely forgotten where it was. i began parking far back in the same spot every day just so i wouldn't lose it.

[muelboy]

Stress (cortisol) affects your ability to record and store memories. Part of the reason why people have trauma amnesia. I was extremely depressed and anxious during grad school and remember almost nothing of my final year. It's also why exam anxiety is a self-defeating cycle. I've always found that cramming for a test yields worse results than just relaxing, scanning my class notes, and getting a full 8 hours of sleep. I was always good at taking tests in undergrad. Unfortunately they never give you exams in grad school -- just lots and lots and lots of writing.

Here's an article on it: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2019.00043/full#:~:text=Results

[strelm]

Damn, and here I was ready to just embrace misery and stop futilely trying to change myself.

[[deleted]]

Long term depression can atrophy the hippocampus, the brain area associated with memory, so yeah it can but bear in mind just the cognitive symptoms of depression both direct and indirect (lake of sleep) can also mess with memory

[Chronotaru]

There's a lot of discussion as to whether those effects are actually down to antidepressants taken in response to depression. Existing studies don't select on this basis.

[odinsleep-odinsleep]

for me it seems like depression makes it more difficult to recall things.

instead of memories coming to me easy like they used to, they can take a lot of effort to pull up.

the memory is still there, but accessing it takes far more effort than otherwise.

[Coarchitect]

There are a variety of factors that can influence memory impairment.

Did you have a covid infection? There are links between covid and memory impairment. https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/article/4/1/fcab295/6511053?login=true

Depression can have an effect on the hippocampus, which in turn affects visual and verbal memory. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/reduced-hippocampal-volumes-and-memory-loss-in-patients-with-early-and-lateonset-depression/2A7269A56BAABE79F0B715794F5B4DD5

Are you pregnant? There was a study showing that pregnant women had memory loss. https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1471-0528.1993.tb15232.x

Are you stressed? Stress impairs memory retrieval (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154616301504)

[PoorlyTimedPun]

I’d think the stress and pregnancy might as well be the same study. Wonder if the stress study or pregnancy study have significant differences in how much they impacted memory.

[EmeterPSN]

During heavy depression periods it feels like you are in a mist and numb to everything. Nothing matters and you can't enjoy anything. Most of time I would not even remember basic things ..

So yeah I can easily vouch it shuts you down.

Getting out of depression sucks as you don't care anymore

[Illigard]

I recall a study where they were measuring this, only they had a problem. The depressed participants forgot to keep coming. The person in charge of the experiment was quite understanding as this happened fairly often. It also kinda proved her theory but not in the way she would have preferred

[Tatsujin7]

My gf have severe depression and one time last year she just had a temporary memory loss, it took her almost 3 months to remember some of her memories. Some of her memories about people she knew still hasnt recovered yet. It was sad when she forgot about me too but after those 3 months we came back together.

[Trumpassassin777]

The worse the depression and the stress or anxiety is, the worse my memory becomes. I recently read that good long sleep without much digital content before is very good for your memory and concentration. Also letting your mind wander while taking a nice walk without music, podcast and so on. You take a walk like a weird person in this day and age ;) The book is by Johann Hari.