First, the CoFaM Study is suited to characterize three major cognitive dimensions of depression with an emphasis on cognitive function, social cognition, and emotion processing in depressed participants compared to healthy controls. The important trait-state characteristics of cognitive symptoms of depression will be addressed since this study includes patients with current, recurrent, and remitted depression cross-sectionally and prospectively. In addition, the included assessment of psychiatric comorbidity, such as anxiety disorders, will enable us to account for the impact of psychiatric comorbidity on cognitive dimensions of depression. A comparison to other mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder, extends this approach.
