Many people can agree that an altered passage of time, known as “temporal disintegration” in psychiatric literature, was a common experience during the COVID pandemic, ranging from difficulty in keeping track of days of the week to feeling that the hours themselves rushed by or slowed down. Prior work linked these distortions to persistent negative mental outcomes such as depression and anxiety following trauma.
A new study, published in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, documents how pervasive the experience was in the first six months of the pandemic. Pandemic-related secondary stresses such as daily COVID-related media exposure, school closures, lockdowns and financial difficulties were also found to be predictors of distortions in perceived time.
“Continuity between past experiences, present life and future hopes is critical to one’s well-being, and disruption of that synergy presents mental health challenges,” said corresponding author E. Alison Holman, UCI professor of nursing. “We were able to measure this in a nationally representative sample of Americans as they were experiencing a protracted collective trauma, which has never been done before. This study is the first to document the prevalence and early predictors of these time distortions. There are relatively new therapies that can be used to help people regain a more balanced sense of time, but if we don’t know who is in need of those services, we can’t provide that support.”
Researchers assessed results of responses regarding distorted time perceptions and other pandemic related experiences from a national sample of 5661 participants. Surveys were conducted during March 18-April 18, 2020 and Sept. 26-Oct. 26, 2020 with respondents who had completed a mental and physical health survey prior to the COVID outbreak.
“Given that distortions in time perception are a risk factor for mental health problems, our findings have potential implications for public health. We are now looking at temporal disintegration, loneliness, and mental health outcomes over 18 months into the pandemic,” Prof Holman said. “This will help us gain insight into how these common experiences during the pandemic work together, so we can better understand how to help people struggling with these challenges.”
