article_snippet: In recent studies, depression has also been found to affect the way that people experience time.
article_snippet: Research found that time seems to pass extremely slowly or even stand still when a person suffers from depression.
article_snippet: Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, said: 'Psychiatrists and psychologists in hospitals and private practices repeatedly report that depressed patients feel that time only creeps forward slowly or is passing in slow motion. '
article_snippet: , Germany found strong indicators that in depressed individuals the subjective feeling of the passage of time differs from the ability to assess the actual duration of external events.'
article_snippet: In the studies, the participants were asked to estimate the duration of periods of time.
article_snippet: We found strong indicators that in depressed individuals the subjective feeling of the passage of time differs from the ability to assess the actual duration of external events,' concluded Dr Oberfeld-Twistel.
article_snippet: Dr Oberfeld-Twistel added Dr Oberfeld-Twistel identified several aspects of the relation between depression and time perception that have not yet been investigated adequately.
article_snippet: Little is actually known about the effects of antidepressants and psychotherapy, or how patients with bipolar disorders compared to non-bipolar depression assess the passing of time.
article_snippet: Future studies need to clearly differentiate between the subjective perception of the passage of time, and a person's ability to estimate the precisely defined lengths of time, Dr Oberfeld-Twistel added.