Time-blind analysis of TV-stored interviews. An objective method to study antidepressive drug-effects

A new method of evaluating the time course of an antidepressive drug effect is described. It has the advantage that the rater is "blind" as to the duration of the treatment (time-blind analysis). TV-stored tapes of interviews recorded during the drug trial were presented in a randomized sequence to raters who ranked each patient's tapes in terms of the degree of depression shown during the interview. Patients treated with Amitriptyline showed a continuous amelioration of depression throughout the drug trial while those treated with Mianserin showed an amelioration of depression that was not constant in time.