Memory in Psychiatric Disorders: A Review

Memory constitutes a fundamental cognitive domain, and converging evidence suggests that its dysfunction represents a prominent, though not exclusive, transdiagnostic dimension across major psychiatric disorders. This review aimed to integrate neurobiological, cognitive, and clinical evidence on domain-specific memory impairments in mood, anxiety, obsessive–compulsive, post-traumatic stress, and psychotic disorders. A comprehensive search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science up to November 2025 for peer-reviewed studies examining short-term, working, long-term, episodic, semantic, and prospective memory, prioritizing both landmark and recent contributions. Two recurrent transdiagnostic patterns emerged: (i) consistent impairments in working-memory control, and (ii) reduced episodic/autobiographical specificity, while procedural memory appeared relatively preserved. Disorder-specific profiles include overgeneral autobiographical memory in major depression, enduring working and episodic deficits in bipolar disorder, variable impairments in anxiety disorders, functional rather than structural memory inefficiencies in obsessive–compulsive disorder, broad mnemonic disorganization in post-traumatic stress disorder, and pervasive working and episodic deficits in schizophrenia and related psychoses. Across conditions, converging neurobiological data implicate fronto-hippocampal dysconnectivity, altered plasticity, and impaired consolidation processes. Unlike previous reviews, this work syntetisizes evidence across multiple memory systems and across major psychiatric categories, linking neurobiological mechanisms with cognitive and clinical manifestations to support a dimensional, transdiagnostic interpretation of memory dysfunction. These findings could suggest that memory dysfunction represents a recurrent and clinically relevant dimension across psychiatric conditions, warranting further mechanistic and longitudinal investigation.