Characteristics and impact of cognitive dysfunction

The chapter characteristics and impact of cognitive dysfunction describes in depth the key features of the domains of cognitive abilities impaired across a broad range of functions. It examines the clinical impact and meta-analytic evidence of cognitive dysfunction both as a state marker of acute depression and a trait marker of depression as an illness. Importantly, it highlights the long-lasting psychosocial and workplace-related impairments in major depressive disorder. In addition to the functional outcomes, it draws the interconnectedness of life domains, subjective experiences of cognitive impairment, and objective measures of cognitive dysfunction, as well as with the course of major depressive disorder.