When Happy Memories Make Us Sad

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“It sounds counterintuitive that thinking about happy memories might make us sad. Yet, that is exactly what people struggling with depression may experience. Unlike people who have never experienced depression and who typically experience mood improvement when thinking about positive past events, people with depression may instead experience a worsening of mood when thinking about such events. Even people who have experienced depression in their past but are no longer suffering from acute depression may fail to experience mood improvement when thinking about positive events from their past. This means that people struggling with depression may miss out on mood boosts and positive self-affirmations in everyday life, which may be important for maintaining a positive view on life and oneself and protect against depressed mood.

In one study, they found four factors that may play a role in the counterintuitive emotional experiences that people with depression report in response to memories of positive past events:

1. The way positive memories come to mind matters - The findings suggest that people who have suffered from depression in their past experience less emotional benefit from thinking about positive past events compared with people who have not experienced depression in their past. They may also find it especially challenging to emotionally process memories of positive past events when these come to mind suddenly and unexpectedly in everyday life as opposed to positive memories that they intentionally choose to think about.

2. The past self feels different from the present self - People who had experienced depression in their past felt that there was a greater contrast between their present sense of self and their remembered self compared with people who had not experienced depression in their past. This was, in turn, associated with a diminished experience of happiness in response to spontaneous positive memories and more intense feelings of sadness in response to both spontaneous and intentional positive memories.

3. Negative pondering turns good into bad -The findings of this study suggest that when people with depression unintentionally think about positive events from their past, they may start pondering about or evaluating these memories in negative ways that contribute to feelings of sadness instead of feelings of happiness.

4. Mindfulness may protect against negative pondering and reflections - When people are able to be more mindful of their memories and thoughts, they may be less prone to automatic and negative evaluations of these memories and thoughts. That way, mindfulness may protect against some of the negative emotional processes responsible for the counterintuitive emotional effects of positive memories in individuals who have experienced depression in their past.

Read the whole article at Psychology Today

#Depression #Memories #Mindfullness

💬 Do you ever feel sad when thinking about happy memories? Do you think this sadness might be associated with the 4 factors mentioned in the article or do you have another explanation?