[Memory complaints and memory deficits in healthy and depressed elderly individuals]

The objective of this study is: a) to determine if there is a relationship between memory complaints and depression and b) to compare actual verbal memory and memory complaints in depressed elderly patients and normal elderly individuals. The California Verbal Learning test (CVLT) was applied to measure memory performance. A questionnaire was used to evaluate complaints about memory. Depression was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results show that depressive patients do not have deficits in verbal memory compared with normal aging individuals. There is an association between memory complaints and depressive symptoms. The depressive patients are significantly superior to the normal persons in memory complaints and depressive symptoms. The two groups are not different in objective measures of memory and learning tasks.