Andy MacLoed (Royal Holloway) - Prospection (future-directed thinking) and emotional disorders

Prospection – the ability to represent what might happen in the future – is fundamentally connected to emotional well-being and mental health.  This talk will review research related to emotional disorders and future-directed thinking using a taxonomy derived from Szpunar, Spreng and Schacter (2014), covering prediction, simulation, goal-setting, and planning.  The data reviewed will show that disruptions to future-directed thinking across these different domains characterise emotional disorders, and that depression and anxiety show distinct, problematic patterns.   Understanding alterations in thinking about the future can offer a different perspective in thinking about anxiety and depression, along with opportunities to develop treatments and strategies that focus on prospection.