Emotional Information-Processing Biases in Psychopathology

This chapter reviews current research evidence for emotional biases in attention, memory, and interpretation in depression and anxiety, as well as how these biases influence each other to maintain negative information-processing. The chapter outlines how interacting information-processing biases may dysregulate affective and social-behavioral mechanisms such as emotional responding, emotion regulation, and interpersonal functioning to fuel symptoms of depression and anxiety. It concludes with clinical recommendations, pointers for when communicating with people with depression and anxiety, and promising directions for future research.