Shared and Distinct Time-Space Experiences Along the Psychotic-Affective Continuum

Alterations in lived time and space mark many mental disorders, yet they unfold in different ways. In schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), the core disturbance lies at the microstructural level: fragmented temporal synthesis and disintegration of world, self, and body. In contrast, both mood disorders (MOD) and SSD involve more accessible macro-level shifts, such as acceleration or slowing of the passage of time, fixation on the past, or blockage of the future, difficulties in social space. This overlap raises the question of how such similarities in time and space experiences of SSD and MOD can occur while, at the same time, distinguishing them.

To address this question, we used data from 26 SSD and 26 MOD patients, derived from phenomenological interviews based on the Scale for Time and Space Experience in Psychosis (STEP). We compared groups on the total STEP score and its time and space subscales, and examined differences across the 25 individual items. In a second step, we subdivided the SSD group into high and low temporospatial disturbance groups to further probe distinctions and overlaps.

The results confirm that SSD is characterized by fragmentation of temporal experience, including diminished synthesis and changes in anisotropy, fragmentation of world, self, and body. Shared items between MOD and SSD involved changes in the speed of time, shifts away from future orientation toward past and present, and spatial items related to distance and social interaction.

Taken together, the findings indicate commonalities across disorders and disturbances that remain more characteristic of SSD.