The relationship between neuropsychological performance and depression in patients with traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury is a multi-faceted condition that affects individuals on physical, cognitive, and emotional levels. The study investigated the relationship between depression and neuropsychological performance in a group with traumatic brain injury. A retrospective review was conducted on 75 participants who completed neuropsychological assessments. Information on clinical characteristics, sociodemographic information, neuropsychological outcomes, and Beck Depression Inventory scores were included in the analysis. Results indicated that 36% of the participants reported experiencing severe symptoms of depression, 28% moderate symptoms of depression, and 36% mild/minimal symptoms of depression. Performance on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test indicated inverse relationships with depression scores suggesting that traumatic brain injury patients with lower depression scores perform better on verbal memory tasks. Similarly, findings for the written and oral versions of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test reflected inverse correlations with depression scores, indicating that lower depression scores are correlated with increased processing speed and capacity. A significant positive association between the time taken to complete the Trail Making Test Trail A and Trail B and depression scores was found, suggesting that higher depression scores in this sample were related to slower performance speed and lower executive performance. When specific clinical and sociodemographic variables were included as covariates in a partial correlational analysis, neuropsychological performance indicators and depression scores remained significant for Symbol Digit Modalities Test (oral and written), the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test Retrieval and Recognition trials, and Trail Making Test (Trail B). This study indicates that in a traumatic brain injury cohort, depression levels are significantly associated with specific neuropsychological performance measures. The findings of this study have implications for psychosocial treatment planning after a traumatic brain injury and contribute to our understandings of the inter-relationship between cognition and emotion.