The temporal experience in depression: from slowing down and delayed help seeking to the emergency setting and length of treatment

Abstract

The present paper discusses the ‘time’ dimension in depression, from the phenomenological experience to the diagnostic criteria, from delayed help seeking to the emergency room, from a (non) timely follow-up to (non) adherence to treatment. The temporal experience is fundamentally disturbed in depression and recent neurophenomenological findings help in better understanding this dimension. The duration of symptoms needed to fulfil diagnostic criteria are somewhat arbitrary. Depression dramatically decreases life expectancy mainly through increased non-suicidal mortality. The time from help seeking to getting treatment (between delayed help seeking and the emergency room) is contradictory and the length of treatment (from too short to too long) suggests that taking better account of these phenomena could improve depression treatment.

Keywords:

• Depression
• help seeking
• psychiatric emergency room
• adherence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).