Marit Schmid - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Marit Schmid

Research paper thumbnail of Risk Factors and Cognitive Deficits in First Episode Major Depression: A Five-Year Longitudinal Study of Explorative Subgroups

Research paper thumbnail of Prevalence and predictors of prolonged grief symptoms among those bereaved from a drug-related death in a convenience sample of Norwegian parents: A cross-sectional study

Research paper thumbnail of Visual Memory Performance in Patients with Major Depression: A 9-Month Follow-Up

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 09084282 2012 670170, Feb 15, 2013

The aim of the present study was to investigate delayed recall, recognition, and visual-spatial m... more The aim of the present study was to investigate delayed recall, recognition, and visual-spatial memory among subjects (N = 24) with major depressive disorder (MDD) following 9 months of recovery from acute depression. Visual-spatial memory assessment was conducted using the Rey Complex Figure Test. In the acute phase, the MDD subjects performed significantly worse compared with control subjects in delayed recall and recognition. Following 9 months of recovery, there were no longer differences between groups. The MDD group made a significant improvement in terms of depressive symptoms and performed better in recall and recognition. The results suggest that depression and memory performance are linked.

Research paper thumbnail of Intracranial arachnoid cysts: impairment of higher cognitive functions and postoperative improvement

Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 2013

Intracranial arachnoid cysts have been shown to yield cognitive impairment over a range of basic ... more Intracranial arachnoid cysts have been shown to yield cognitive impairment over a range of basic mental functions, and these functions normalize after surgical cyst decompression. We wanted to investigate whether such cysts may also impair executive cognitive functions, and whether surgical cyst decompression leads to an improvement. This study included 22 patients with arachnoid cysts and 13 control patients scheduled for low back surgery. All subjects were tested with Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) tests, assessing executive function 1 day before surgery and a minimum of 3 months after surgery. The data were analyzed according to scaled score computations based on raw scores provided by D-KEFS, adjusted for age, gender, and educational norms. Preoperatively, the patients with cysts group performed worse than the control group in verbal knowledge, mental flexibility, inhibitory capacity, problem solving, and planning skills. Postoperatively, the patients with cysts...

Research paper thumbnail of Information processing in patients with first episode major depression

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2012

Few studies have investigated cognitive functioning in a group of patients experiencing a first e... more Few studies have investigated cognitive functioning in a group of patients experiencing a first episode of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate how patients diagnosed with a first episode of depression perform in effortful and non-effortful information processing compared to healthy controls. An experimental paradigm based on a visual search test was applied. Thirty-one patients and thirty-one healthy controls were included in the study. All patients experienced a severe level of symptom load at the time of testing. Results showed no significant differences between groups under any of the conditions. Findings in the present study indicate that patients with a first episode of depression perform equally to healthy controls in tasks requiring visual attention in both effortful and non-effortful information processing.

Research paper thumbnail of Testing the cognitive effort hypothesis of cognitive impairment in major depression

Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 2011

It is widely accepted that depression is associated with deficits in a range of cognitive domains... more It is widely accepted that depression is associated with deficits in a range of cognitive domains. However, there is no consensus regarding the neuropsychological profile in depression. The aim of the present report is to test the cognitive effort hypothesis as a possible framework for understanding the observed cognitive impairment in major depressive disorder (MDD), using the Delis Kaplan Executive Function system (D-KEFS). Twenty-four patients with recurrent MDD, in the acute phase of illness, were compared with a healthy control group. We expected that the patient group would show impairment on tests that measure higher-level effortful cognitive processing, whereas basic cognitive skills would be equal to the control group. There were no differences between the two groups on measures of basic cognitive skills, except for Colour Naming. Furthermore, MDD patients performed significantly worse than the control group on three out of seven of the cognitively effortful measures; namely Inhibition, Inhibition/Switching and Category Fluency. We could not find consistent support for the cognitive effort hypothesis in the present study. However, the results indicate that depressed patients have a specific impairment within the Executive Function domain affecting Inhibition, Inhibition/Switching and Category Fluency.

Research paper thumbnail of A follow-up study of first episode major depressive disorder. Impairment in inhibition and semantic fluency—potential predictors for relapse?

Frontiers in Psychology, 2013

The present study investigated the Executive Functions (EF) of inhibition, mental flexibility and... more The present study investigated the Executive Functions (EF) of inhibition, mental flexibility and phonemic and semantic fluency in a 1-year follow-up assessment of patients diagnosed with first episode Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). In the acute phase, the patient group performed significantly poorer compared to the control group (CG) in inhibition and semantic fluency. The present study pursued these findings from the acute phase to see if the impairment seen in inhibition and semantic fluency in the acute phase normalized or persisted in the follow-up assessment. In addition, the present study investigated the association between poor inhibition and semantic fluency performance and the experience of relapse during the 1-year period. Twenty eight patients and 28 individually matched control subjects were included. EF was reassessed using three tests from the Delis Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). Results: There was a significant decrease in depression severity score from the acute phase, showing that most of the patients were in remission in the follow-up assessment. Results showed a sustained impairment in inhibition and semantic fluency in the patient group. However, the performance in inhibition was more severe when an additional requirement of mental flexibility was included. There were no group differences in the other EF functions measured. Further, patients with a relapse in the course of 1 year performed significantly poorer in inhibition/switching at inclusion compared to patients that did not relapse and the CG. This relationship was not found for semantic fluency. Poor performance in inhibition and semantic fluency are prolonged despite symptom reduction in patients with a first episode of MDD. Moreover, although based on a small sample of patients, the present study showed that there may be a relationship between impaired ability in the EF of inhibition/switching and vulnerability for the experience of relapse.

Research paper thumbnail of Prolonged Impairment in Inhibition and Semantic Fluency in a Follow-up Study of Recurrent Major Depression

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 2011

Several studies have demonstrated impaired performance in inhibition and semantic fluency in the ... more Several studies have demonstrated impaired performance in inhibition and semantic fluency in the acute phase of illness in patients with recurrent major depression. However, few studies have investigated these functions longitudinally, focusing on how these impairments relate to symptoms over time. The present longitudinal study investigated whether the specific impairment in inhibition and semantic fluency seen in the acute phase of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) was prolonged or normalized with symptom reduction in a 9-month follow-up. Twenty recurrent major depressive patients and 19 control subjects were included in the study. Inhibition and semantic fluency were investigated using tests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System. The results show that the patient group still had significantly lower scores in inhibition and semantic fluency compared with the control group despite significant symptom reduction. Further, the results show that impaired inhibition in the acute phase was strongly correlated with impaired inhibition in the follow-up, suggesting that the inability to inhibit may represent a trait marker in recurrent MDD.

Research paper thumbnail of Visual Memory Performance in Patients with Major Depression: A 9-Month Follow-Up

Applied Neuropsychology, 2013

The aim of the present study was to investigate delayed recall, recognition, and visual-spatial m... more The aim of the present study was to investigate delayed recall, recognition, and visual-spatial memory among subjects (N = 24) with major depressive disorder (MDD) following 9 months of recovery from acute depression. Visual-spatial memory assessment was conducted using the Rey Complex Figure Test. In the acute phase, the MDD subjects performed significantly worse compared with control subjects in delayed recall and recognition. Following 9 months of recovery, there were no longer differences between groups. The MDD group made a significant improvement in terms of depressive symptoms and performed better in recall and recognition. The results suggest that depression and memory performance are linked.

Research paper thumbnail of Patients with Major Depression Show Intact Memory Performance—Given Optimal Conditions

Applied Neuropsychology, 2011

In the present study, verbal and visual memory functioning in a group of recurrent major depressi... more In the present study, verbal and visual memory functioning in a group of recurrent major depressive disorder patients were investigated. The study included 48 participants: 24 patients and 24 control subjects. Verbal and visual memory were investigated using the California Verbal Learning Test and the Rey Complex Figure Test. The results show that the depressed patients performed significantly worse compared with the controls on the very first trial in the verbal memory test. On all other conditions, the patients showed intact verbal memory, while visual memory was impaired. It is important to highlight the intact verbal memory performance in the acute phase of illness to detect cognitive strengths in this patient group.

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive function in first episode major depressive disorder: Poor inhibition and semantic fluency performance

Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 2013

Executive Functions (EF) has been documented to be impaired in patients with recurrent Major Depr... more Executive Functions (EF) has been documented to be impaired in patients with recurrent Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in several studies. Longitudinal studies have suggested that these impairments may be a result of several episodes of depression or they may represent stable traits in this patient group. However, few studies have addressed these issues and investigated cognitive functioning with a particular focus on EF in patients who experience MDD for the first time. In the present study, the executive functions of inhibition, verbal fluency, mental flexibility, and planning and problem solving were investigated in a group of patients diagnosed with first episode MDD. Thirty patients and 30 control subjects were included in the study. The patient group performed significantly more poorly in the cognitive functions of inhibition and semantic fluency. In addition, the patient group showed a reduced speed of mental processing on some of the measures. However, the results showed that reduced processing speed alone could not account for the poor performance in inhibition and semantic fluency. There were no differences between the two groups in the other measures of EF, indicating that functioning of mental flexibility, phonemic fluency, planning, and problem solving was intact in the patient group. The results show that impaired inhibition and semantic fluency are present early in the course of MDD. The present findings indicate that poor inhibition and performance in semantic fluency may represent stable traits in MDD, independent of symptom severity and the number of depressive episodes.

Research paper thumbnail of Risk Factors and Cognitive Deficits in First Episode Major Depression: A Five-Year Longitudinal Study of Explorative Subgroups

Research paper thumbnail of Prevalence and predictors of prolonged grief symptoms among those bereaved from a drug-related death in a convenience sample of Norwegian parents: A cross-sectional study

Research paper thumbnail of Visual Memory Performance in Patients with Major Depression: A 9-Month Follow-Up

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 09084282 2012 670170, Feb 15, 2013

The aim of the present study was to investigate delayed recall, recognition, and visual-spatial m... more The aim of the present study was to investigate delayed recall, recognition, and visual-spatial memory among subjects (N = 24) with major depressive disorder (MDD) following 9 months of recovery from acute depression. Visual-spatial memory assessment was conducted using the Rey Complex Figure Test. In the acute phase, the MDD subjects performed significantly worse compared with control subjects in delayed recall and recognition. Following 9 months of recovery, there were no longer differences between groups. The MDD group made a significant improvement in terms of depressive symptoms and performed better in recall and recognition. The results suggest that depression and memory performance are linked.

Research paper thumbnail of Intracranial arachnoid cysts: impairment of higher cognitive functions and postoperative improvement

Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 2013

Intracranial arachnoid cysts have been shown to yield cognitive impairment over a range of basic ... more Intracranial arachnoid cysts have been shown to yield cognitive impairment over a range of basic mental functions, and these functions normalize after surgical cyst decompression. We wanted to investigate whether such cysts may also impair executive cognitive functions, and whether surgical cyst decompression leads to an improvement. This study included 22 patients with arachnoid cysts and 13 control patients scheduled for low back surgery. All subjects were tested with Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) tests, assessing executive function 1 day before surgery and a minimum of 3 months after surgery. The data were analyzed according to scaled score computations based on raw scores provided by D-KEFS, adjusted for age, gender, and educational norms. Preoperatively, the patients with cysts group performed worse than the control group in verbal knowledge, mental flexibility, inhibitory capacity, problem solving, and planning skills. Postoperatively, the patients with cysts...

Research paper thumbnail of Information processing in patients with first episode major depression

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2012

Few studies have investigated cognitive functioning in a group of patients experiencing a first e... more Few studies have investigated cognitive functioning in a group of patients experiencing a first episode of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate how patients diagnosed with a first episode of depression perform in effortful and non-effortful information processing compared to healthy controls. An experimental paradigm based on a visual search test was applied. Thirty-one patients and thirty-one healthy controls were included in the study. All patients experienced a severe level of symptom load at the time of testing. Results showed no significant differences between groups under any of the conditions. Findings in the present study indicate that patients with a first episode of depression perform equally to healthy controls in tasks requiring visual attention in both effortful and non-effortful information processing.

Research paper thumbnail of Testing the cognitive effort hypothesis of cognitive impairment in major depression

Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 2011

It is widely accepted that depression is associated with deficits in a range of cognitive domains... more It is widely accepted that depression is associated with deficits in a range of cognitive domains. However, there is no consensus regarding the neuropsychological profile in depression. The aim of the present report is to test the cognitive effort hypothesis as a possible framework for understanding the observed cognitive impairment in major depressive disorder (MDD), using the Delis Kaplan Executive Function system (D-KEFS). Twenty-four patients with recurrent MDD, in the acute phase of illness, were compared with a healthy control group. We expected that the patient group would show impairment on tests that measure higher-level effortful cognitive processing, whereas basic cognitive skills would be equal to the control group. There were no differences between the two groups on measures of basic cognitive skills, except for Colour Naming. Furthermore, MDD patients performed significantly worse than the control group on three out of seven of the cognitively effortful measures; namely Inhibition, Inhibition/Switching and Category Fluency. We could not find consistent support for the cognitive effort hypothesis in the present study. However, the results indicate that depressed patients have a specific impairment within the Executive Function domain affecting Inhibition, Inhibition/Switching and Category Fluency.

Research paper thumbnail of A follow-up study of first episode major depressive disorder. Impairment in inhibition and semantic fluency—potential predictors for relapse?

Frontiers in Psychology, 2013

The present study investigated the Executive Functions (EF) of inhibition, mental flexibility and... more The present study investigated the Executive Functions (EF) of inhibition, mental flexibility and phonemic and semantic fluency in a 1-year follow-up assessment of patients diagnosed with first episode Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). In the acute phase, the patient group performed significantly poorer compared to the control group (CG) in inhibition and semantic fluency. The present study pursued these findings from the acute phase to see if the impairment seen in inhibition and semantic fluency in the acute phase normalized or persisted in the follow-up assessment. In addition, the present study investigated the association between poor inhibition and semantic fluency performance and the experience of relapse during the 1-year period. Twenty eight patients and 28 individually matched control subjects were included. EF was reassessed using three tests from the Delis Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). Results: There was a significant decrease in depression severity score from the acute phase, showing that most of the patients were in remission in the follow-up assessment. Results showed a sustained impairment in inhibition and semantic fluency in the patient group. However, the performance in inhibition was more severe when an additional requirement of mental flexibility was included. There were no group differences in the other EF functions measured. Further, patients with a relapse in the course of 1 year performed significantly poorer in inhibition/switching at inclusion compared to patients that did not relapse and the CG. This relationship was not found for semantic fluency. Poor performance in inhibition and semantic fluency are prolonged despite symptom reduction in patients with a first episode of MDD. Moreover, although based on a small sample of patients, the present study showed that there may be a relationship between impaired ability in the EF of inhibition/switching and vulnerability for the experience of relapse.

Research paper thumbnail of Prolonged Impairment in Inhibition and Semantic Fluency in a Follow-up Study of Recurrent Major Depression

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 2011

Several studies have demonstrated impaired performance in inhibition and semantic fluency in the ... more Several studies have demonstrated impaired performance in inhibition and semantic fluency in the acute phase of illness in patients with recurrent major depression. However, few studies have investigated these functions longitudinally, focusing on how these impairments relate to symptoms over time. The present longitudinal study investigated whether the specific impairment in inhibition and semantic fluency seen in the acute phase of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) was prolonged or normalized with symptom reduction in a 9-month follow-up. Twenty recurrent major depressive patients and 19 control subjects were included in the study. Inhibition and semantic fluency were investigated using tests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System. The results show that the patient group still had significantly lower scores in inhibition and semantic fluency compared with the control group despite significant symptom reduction. Further, the results show that impaired inhibition in the acute phase was strongly correlated with impaired inhibition in the follow-up, suggesting that the inability to inhibit may represent a trait marker in recurrent MDD.

Research paper thumbnail of Visual Memory Performance in Patients with Major Depression: A 9-Month Follow-Up

Applied Neuropsychology, 2013

The aim of the present study was to investigate delayed recall, recognition, and visual-spatial m... more The aim of the present study was to investigate delayed recall, recognition, and visual-spatial memory among subjects (N = 24) with major depressive disorder (MDD) following 9 months of recovery from acute depression. Visual-spatial memory assessment was conducted using the Rey Complex Figure Test. In the acute phase, the MDD subjects performed significantly worse compared with control subjects in delayed recall and recognition. Following 9 months of recovery, there were no longer differences between groups. The MDD group made a significant improvement in terms of depressive symptoms and performed better in recall and recognition. The results suggest that depression and memory performance are linked.

Research paper thumbnail of Patients with Major Depression Show Intact Memory Performance—Given Optimal Conditions

Applied Neuropsychology, 2011

In the present study, verbal and visual memory functioning in a group of recurrent major depressi... more In the present study, verbal and visual memory functioning in a group of recurrent major depressive disorder patients were investigated. The study included 48 participants: 24 patients and 24 control subjects. Verbal and visual memory were investigated using the California Verbal Learning Test and the Rey Complex Figure Test. The results show that the depressed patients performed significantly worse compared with the controls on the very first trial in the verbal memory test. On all other conditions, the patients showed intact verbal memory, while visual memory was impaired. It is important to highlight the intact verbal memory performance in the acute phase of illness to detect cognitive strengths in this patient group.

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive function in first episode major depressive disorder: Poor inhibition and semantic fluency performance

Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 2013

Executive Functions (EF) has been documented to be impaired in patients with recurrent Major Depr... more Executive Functions (EF) has been documented to be impaired in patients with recurrent Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in several studies. Longitudinal studies have suggested that these impairments may be a result of several episodes of depression or they may represent stable traits in this patient group. However, few studies have addressed these issues and investigated cognitive functioning with a particular focus on EF in patients who experience MDD for the first time. In the present study, the executive functions of inhibition, verbal fluency, mental flexibility, and planning and problem solving were investigated in a group of patients diagnosed with first episode MDD. Thirty patients and 30 control subjects were included in the study. The patient group performed significantly more poorly in the cognitive functions of inhibition and semantic fluency. In addition, the patient group showed a reduced speed of mental processing on some of the measures. However, the results showed that reduced processing speed alone could not account for the poor performance in inhibition and semantic fluency. There were no differences between the two groups in the other measures of EF, indicating that functioning of mental flexibility, phonemic fluency, planning, and problem solving was intact in the patient group. The results show that impaired inhibition and semantic fluency are present early in the course of MDD. The present findings indicate that poor inhibition and performance in semantic fluency may represent stable traits in MDD, independent of symptom severity and the number of depressive episodes.