title: Depression and prospection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prospection, the mental representation of possible futures, is usually adaptive. When it goes awry, however, it disrupts emotion and motivation. A negative view of the future is typically seen as one symptom of depression, but we suggest that such negative prospection is the core causal element of depression. Here, we describe the empirical evidence supporting this framework, and we explore the implications for clinical interventions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We integrate several literatures: Using the database PsycInfo, we retrieved empirical studies with the keywords prospection, prediction, expectation, pessimism, mental simulation, future-thinking, future-directed thinking, foresight, and/or mental time travel, in conjunction with depression, depressed, or depressive.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three kinds of faulty prospection, taken together, could drive depression: Poor generation of possible futures, poor evaluation of possible futures, and negative beliefs about the future. Depressed mood and poor functioning, in turn, may maintain faulty prospection and feed a vicious cycle. Future-oriented treatment strategies drawn from cognitive-behavioural therapy help to fix poor prospection, and they deserve to be developed further.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prospection-based techniques may lead to transdiagnostic treatment strategies for depression and other disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Ann Marie
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7550-1107
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Roepke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Martin E P
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Seligman
mesh_terms: D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D013850:Thinking
keywords: depression; episodic foresight; future thinking; mental simulation; mental time travel; prospection; transdiagnostic