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Time: Conceptions And Reactions To Tiime

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Hope4Now

MyPTSD Pro
For several months now, I've become highly conscious that I seem to have a different conception of and reaction to time. I've been thinking for a while about posting a thread on how people with PTSD "interact" with time. How do you feel time inside you? Is there a disconnect between time in your inner self and time in the "real world." How do you cope with time?

All these things have been banging around in my brain. Right NOW, I'm stunned because I just now watched a TEDx talk for something I'm doing for work, and the speaker mentioned something about his experience of time--he called it Tachy Psychia. The way he described it made my eyes open wide. I looked it up and read about it on wikipedia. There aren't any references in the wiki post, and I haven't found much about it on the web yet. But I've experienced many of the physical and emotional symptoms associated with it off and on throughout my life.
Here's what the intro says:
  • Tachypsychia is a neurological condition that alters the perception of time, usually induced by physical exertion, drug use, or a traumatic event. It is sometimes referred to by martial arts instructors and self-defense experts as the Tachy Psyche effect. For someone affected by tachypsychia, time perceived by the individual either lengthens, making events appear to slow down, or contracts, objects appearing as moving in a speeding blur. It is believed that tachypsychia is induced by a combination of high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, usually during periods of great physical stress and/or in violent confrontation.
I would be really interested to hear from anybody about whether they have distorted perceptions of time.
 
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Both my husband and I have experienced time slowing down during times of danger or crisis. (the first time it happened to me was in fifth grade in a dodge ball game. All of a sudden things just moved slowly.)

here is a blog post I've just found:
[DLMURL]http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2010/01/23/is-time-dilated-during-a-threatening-situation/[/DLMURL]

Not sure about the rest tho...
 
I think that would be a pretty 'normal' response (sort of a continuum thing) under extreme stress +/or life threatening conditions. I can think of it at least twice when I almost lost my life (the slowing down). I think if it occurs frequently it can indicate dissociation.

I can't quite 'feel' the correct 'amount' of time (long-term time), relative to experience. I'm not sure if that is the same. (For example, years feel like months, but sometimes months feel like years). If someone asked me 'when' did that occur, I have to go by 'markers' to figure it out,because it gets all scrambled up, and my answer would be genuine but possibly really inaccurate.
 
If someone asked me 'when' did that occur, I have to go by 'markers' to figure it out,because it gets all scrambled up, and my answer would be genuine but possibly really inaccurate.
Yes, me too. Totally scrambled. It is quite embarrassing actually. My husband, who has an enviable memory, is often frustrated and confused by how far off the mark I am on time. Sometimes I say things happened a long time ago when it was just recently, and vice versa. I have such a faulty memory, that it is also often hard to find the "markers" you mention, although when I do, that's the only thing that helps organize time.
 
Yes @Hope4Now I'd remember the wedding anniversary date but likely think it's 3 years instead of 10, lol. :rolleyes: I use markers such as where was I working, who was alive, when did I get my dog, etc. I have to back track to think about it or figure it out.
 
@Eleanor thank you for posting that link. It was very interesting particularly the part about looming and the activation of the default brain networks and self-referential processes, and also the part about coding information and the relationship to changing information. For a short little piece there I a lot packed in! It certainly helps further explain the shifts in time perception related to stress.
 
In me...most always...time either is way slowed down or moving so fast that I am overwhelmed...actually it is that the internal and/or external stimuli are what overwhelm and shift my perceptions of time. So I always feel out of synch with the rest of the world.
 
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