Losing the light at the end of the tunnel: Depression, future thinking, and hope

Juliette Vazard*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Is the capacity to experience hope central to our ability to entertain desirable future possibilities in thought? The ability to project oneself forward in time, or to entertain vivid positive episodic future thoughts, is impaired in patients with clinical depression. In this article, I consider the causal relation between, on the one hand, the loss of the affective experience of hope in depressed patients, and on the other hand, the reduced ability to generate and entertain positive episodic future thinking. I suggest that findings in the philosophy of emotion may shed light on this causal relation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)39-51
Number of pages13
JournalMind and Language
Volume39
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 5 May 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • depression
  • emotion
  • future thinking
  • hopelessness

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