The Concept of Time Perspective Within a Psychiatric Context

Abstract

Introduction

According to time perspective (TP), theory behaviour is influenced by the individual's perception of his/her past, present and future. Boyd and Zimbardo postulate that a healthy balance between orientation to the past, present and future exists.

Objectives

Investigation of TP in the context of psychopathology.

Aims

To investigate and compare TP in Obsessive Compulsive (OCD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

Method

Twenty-eight OCD and 28 BPD patients (36% of men), matched for age and education, completed the Greek version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI); a 56-item self-administered questionnaire measuring individuals’ orientations to the past, present, and future. ZTPI consists of five factors: Past Negative (PN), Past Positive (PP), Present Hedonistic (PH), Present Fatalistic (PF) and Future (F).

Results

BPD patients scored significantly higher in PH and PF and significantly lower in PP factors than OCD patients. No significant gender differences emerged for either group. In the BPD group, age correlated significantly negatively with PH, while education correlated positively with F.

Conclusion

The study's findings suggest that BPD patients have a hedonistic orientation towards time and life and a helpless/hopeless attitude towards the future to a significantly greater degree than OCD patients, whereas OCD patients seem to have a more positive and nostalgic attitude towards the past than BPD patients. Further research would provide additional information concerning the role of TP in OCD and BPD patients.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.