Time perception in relation to depressed mood and hopelessness

Abstract

Possible distortions in time perception have been associated with the experience of depression, hopelessness and suicide. People who are depressed often experience time as passing slowly. They also tend to show a preference for certain 'time perspectives'. The first paper of this thesis reviews the literature pertaining to these phenomena from a number of distinct areas of investigation. Evidence from the self report literature for subjectively altered perception of time in depression and hopelessness is examined. Links are made between this work and research looking into the importance of future directed thinking in depression. Evidence from the experimental timing literature is also reviewed suggesting that actual time abilities may also be altered in depressed mood. Finally, studies which have specifically attempted to measure peoples' timing abilities ae critically assessed and the implications for future research are discussed.

The second paper of this thesis describes a study which investigated the association between low mood and disturbed temporal experience by means of the induction of mild sad mood in adolescents. Results showed a non-significant trend for timing performance to be less accurate in low mood. There was also some indication of a relationship between naturally occurring low mood, hopelessness, and poor timing performance. Time perspective did not show any difference as a result of the mood induction, but did show a pattern of associations with naturally occurring low mood. Time perspective did not correlate with timing performance. These results and the limitations of the study are discussed.

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