Distortions in time perception during collective trauma: Insights from a national longitudinal study during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Objective: During the protracted collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, lay of distorted perceptions of time (e.g., time slowing, days blurring together, uncertainty about the future) have been widespread. Known as “temporal disintegration” in psychiatric literature, these distortions are associated with negative mental health consequences. However, the prevalence and predictors of temporal disintegration are poorly understood. We examined perceptions of time passing and their associations with lifetime stress and trauma and pandemic-related secondary stress as COVID-19 spread across the United States. Method: A probability-based national sample (N = 5,661) from the NORC AmeriSpeak online panel, which had completed a mental and physical health survey prior to the pandemic, completed two surveys online during March 18–April 18, 2020, and September 26–October 16, 2020. Distorted time perceptions and other pandemic-related experiences were assessed. Results: Present focus, blurring weekdays and weekdays together, and uncertainty about the future were common experiences reported by over 65% of the sample 6 months into the pandemic. Half of the sample reported time speeding up or slowing down. Predictors of temporal disintegration include prepandemic mental health diagnoses, daily pandemic-related media exposure and secondary stress (e.g., school closures, lockdown), financial stress, and lifetime stress and trauma exposure. Conclusion: During the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, distortions in time perception were very common and associated with prepandemic mental health, lifetime stress and trauma exposure, and pandemic-related media exposure and stressors. Given that temporal disintegration is a risk factor for mental health challenges, these findings have potential implications for public mental health.

Effect of Electronic Outreach Using Patient Portal Messages on Well Child Care Visit Completion

“…Including the date of the last WCC should have made salient that the child was overdue for a WCC, addressing distortions of time perception experienced by many during the pandemic. 27 , 28 , 29 Yet some families may have perceived that differently if unfamiliar with the recommended periodicity schedule. In addition, we did not find a significant difference in time since the last WCC on WCC completion within 8 weeks among patients in the tailored message group.…”

“…Families may have been distracted by the additional information related to the child’s age and date of last WCC in the tailored message. Including the date of the last WCC should have made salient that the child was overdue for a WCC, addressing distortions of time perception experienced by many during the pandemic . Yet some families may have perceived that differently if unfamiliar with the recommended periodicity schedule.…”

“…We tailored messages to include the date of the last WCC to address distortions of time perception experienced during the pandemic. 27 , 28 , 29 We hypothesized that outreach messages would be superior to no message, and messages with tailoring would outperform standard messages. Secondary outcomes were vaccination rates for eligible patients.…”

“…We sought to determine the effect of EHR patient portal outreach messages, with and without the date of the last WCC, on the scheduling and completion of WCC visits among patients aged 6 to 17 years overdue for annual WCC visits. We tailored messages to include the date of the last WCC to address distortions of time perception experienced during the pandemic . We hypothesized that outreach messages would be superior to no message, and messages with tailoring would outperform standard messages.…”

‘Tender Narrator’ Who Sees Beyond Time:

“…Since 2020, our global state of trauma has been compounded by the pandemic, a collective trauma of unprecedented magnitude (cf. Holman et al, 2022), and in the U.S., through a series of incidents that surfaced and made visible the legacy of unhealed race-based historical traumas (Silver et al, 2020). Situational factors (cf.…”