The Impact of Depression on Long-Term Memory Profiles of Adults that Have Sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury

The ability to store and retrieve information from the long-term declarative memory store can be adversely impacted by both traumatic brain injury (TBI) and depression. The literature examining the differential impact of depression and TBI on memory function as measured by neuropsychological tests has yielded varied findings. Some studies indicate poorer neuropsychological test performance for TBI patients with depression when compared to non-depressed TBI patients (Jorge et al., 2004; Mauri, Paletta, Colasanti, Miserocchi, & Altamura, 2014; Rapoport, McCullagh, Shammi, & Feinstein, 2005). However, other studies have not demonstrated significant differences between neuropsychological test profiles among depressed and non-depressed TBI patients (Gass & Russell, 1986; Satz et al., 1998). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify the cognitive profiles of adults with TBI, with a specific focus on declarative memory function. This study hypothesized that TBI patients with depression would demonstrate significantly poorer memory performance when compared to non-depressed TBI patients. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine the encoding, learning, and percent retention on memory tests among 6 non-depressed and 10 depressed TBI patients. No significant differences between the groups were found on any of the tests included in the neuropsychological battery (CVLT, Logical Memory from the Wechsler Memory Scale, Fourth Edition, RCFT). Results indicate that TBI patients with and without depression have similar memory capabilities