Research conducted by the Journal of Psychiatric Research shows us that a negative focus on the past is a fundamental aspect of depression. This study also found that childhood trauma was associated with elevated depressive symptoms, but only among individuals who displayed a tendency to focus on the past instead of the present and future.
Clinical depression, otherwise known as major depressive disorder (MDD), is statistically one of the most prevalent mental illnesses around the world. Study authors Yingying Wang and her team suggested that time perspective plays an important role in the link between early trauma and depression. An individual’s time perspective is simply the tendency to center thoughts around either the past, present, or future. An abnormal grasp on time perspective has been linked to both childhood trauma and depression symptoms, the most common being increased focus on the past.
For this study in particular, Wang wanted to look deeper into this phenomenon to discover if focus on the past is a symptom of depression, or a separate trait that can exist before depression emerges. To figure this out, researchers gathered 93 patients with MDD, and 69 control subjects with no known mental health diagnoses. All participants were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire that measured five types of childhood maltreatment. This questionnaire also touched on the five time perspectives of positive past, negative past, fatalistic present, hedonic present, and future.
Through this analysis it was discovered that, unsurprisingly, those with depression tended to skew toward having a negative past perspective and a fatalistic present perspective. They also had a lower tendency toward positive reflection on the past and future perspectives. Next, it was discovered that the more childhood trauma in a subject’s past, the more they focused on the past and the more severe depressive symptoms they exhibited.
This phenomenon seemingly was driven by the participants that had MDD. The researchers found that childhood trauma was indeed tied to increased negative past, fatalistic present, and hedonistic present perspectives, and a lower positive past perspective, but only among subjects with MDD. Abnormal time perspective was not a symptom for those with no mental health diagnoses. This lets us know that it is possible to experience childhood trauma and not develop abnormal time perspective or depression.
Lastly, Wang and her team wanted to discover whether time perspective abnormalities emerge with depression, or if they represent a specific trait that was present before depression. Through the last portion of their experimenting, they found that time perspective differences were not a consequence of depression symptoms. They most likely are a basic trait marker that is present before depressive symptoms become prevalent.
The discoveries made by this team are incredibly beneficial to those with childhood trauma. Wang and her team suggest trying perspective therapy as a potential treatment option to those with a history of childhood trauma, to prevent the development of depression symptoms, or to prevent them from worsening. If you have a history of childhood trauma, be sure to discuss this option with a mental health professional in order to create a treatment plan best suited for you.