When mood and time align: nasal esketamine reduces lived time disturbances in treatment-resistant depression.

In two male patients with treatment-resistant depression, a structured interview assessing their felt sense of time (TATE) detected improvements in subjective experience before a standard depression rating scale (MADRS) did. One patient's TATE scores reached general population levels at week 4, one week earlier than the MADRS indicated treatment response. These cases suggest that phenomenological assessments can capture nuanced early improvements that traditional scales may miss, offering a complementary tool for monitoring treatment effectiveness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

These two cases highlight the utility of a focused, structured clinical phenomenological interview in measuring treatment effectiveness in subjective experience. Two male patients, aged 35 and 27, of Serbian ethnicity with treatment-resistant depression were treated with nasal esketamine, with clinical progress monitored using both the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Transdiagnostic Assessment of Temporal Experience (TATE), a structured instrument assessing the patient's felt sense of time. Notably, TATE scores in the first case reached general population levels at week 4, one week prior to the treatment response, as indicated by MADRS. These findings underscore the value of phenomenological assessments in complementing traditional depression scales to capture nuanced improvements during treatment.