The emotional experiences of people with major depressive disorder (MDD) are characterized by emotional disturbances. We examined whether these patterns characterize people with MDD in remission. Participants included individuals who had experienced at least two major depressive episodes (remitted-MDD group; n = 80), had current MDD (current-MDD group; n = 48), or were control participants (n = 87). Participants reported their momentary affect five times per day for 14 days, from which we computed the mean (i.e., intensity), standard deviation (i.e., variability), and autocorrelation (i.e., inertia). Negative affect (NA) intensity and variability, but not inertia, differed between groups; the current-MDD group had the highest levels, the control group had the lowest, and the remitted-MDD group fell in between. Differences in NA variability held after accounting for mean NA. The only significant group difference for positive affect (PA) was that PA intensity was lower in the current-MDD group compared with the other two groups. Emotional disturbances of participants with remitted MDD appear limited to NA.

患有重度抑郁症（MDD）的人的情感经历的特征在于情感障碍。我们检查了这些模式是否是缓解MDD患者的特征。参加者包括经历过至少两次严重抑郁发作的患者（缓解性MDD组；n = 80）；当前患有MDD（当前MDD组；n = 48）；或者是对照参与者（n= 87）。参与者报告了他们每天的五次瞬时影响，共14天，从中我们计算出平均值（即强度），标准差（即变异性）和自相关（即惯性）。两组之间的负面影响强度和变异性不同，但惯性没有差异。当前的MDD组的水平最高，对照组的最低，而MDD组则介于两者之间。在考虑了平均NA之后，NA变异性的差异仍然存在。积极影响（PA）的唯一显着组差异是，当前MDD组的PA强度低于其他两组。患有MDD缓解的参与者的情绪障碍似乎仅限于NA。