Can the Memory Support Intervention Improve Depression Outcome Following Cognitive Therapy?

Background. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric
disorders and a leading cause of disability worldwide. Existing therapies fail to produce
complete recovery. Progress toward improving outcome must include innovations that are safe,
powerful, inexpensive and simple (for fast and effective dissemination). The proposed
research seeks to test one such innovation. The investigators seek to improve outcome by
improving memory for the content of cognitive therapy (CT) sessions. CT is one of the most
promising approaches to the treatment of MDD, yet there is room for improvement.

It is proposed that adding memory enhancing strategies to CT may improve MDD outcome because:
(a) MDD is often characterized by memory impairment, (b) there is evidence that the memory
impairment is modifiable, (c) CT typically entails the activation of emotion, (d) emotion can
impair or bias memory and (e) there is evidence that memory for the content of therapy
sessions is poor.

Hence, the overall goal is to evaluate if integrating strategies designed to enhance memory
for the content of CT sessions improves treatment outcome for MDD. Cognitive support involves
a series of specific procedures that support the encoding and retrieval stages of an episodic
memory. It is hypothesized that CT+Memory Support, relative to CT-as-usual, will be
associated with improved illness course and functional outcome at the end of treatment as
well as 6 and 12 months post-treatment.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Age 18+ years

- Willing and able to give full consent

- English language fluency

- Diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD), first episode, recurrent or chronic,
according to DSM-5

- Minimum score 26 or above on the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, Self-Report
(IDS-SR). This cutoff denotes at least 'moderate' depression

- If taking medications for mood, medications must be stable for the past four weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

- History of Bipolar Disorder

- History of Psychosis or psychotic features

- Lifetime history of failure to respond to 4 or more sessions of CBT/CT for depression

- Current non-psychotic disorder if it constitutes the principal diagnosis and if it
requires treatment other than that offered in the project. 'Principal' is defined as
the disorder currently most distressing and disabling, using a widely accepted
severity rating scale capturing distress and interference (0-8, 4+ indicates clinical
severity)

- Moderate or severe substance use in the past 6 months where 'moderate' is defined as
4-5 symptoms and 'severe' is defined as 6+ listed in DSM-5 for each of the
substance-related disorders

- Evidence of any medical disorder or condition that could cause depression, preclude
participation in CT, or is associated with memory problems, that is not currently
stabilized and/or managed under the care of a physician or the presence of an active
and progressive physical illness or neurological degenerative disease,

- Current suicide risk sufficient to preclude treatment on an outpatient basis (assessed
by the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale) or current homicide risk (assessed by
our staff, a case manager or psychiatrist)

- Pregnancy or breastfeeding

- Not able/willing to participate in and/or complete the pre-treatment assessments