Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:679-681
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Depersonalization and temporal disintegration in acute mental illness
AM Freeman 3d and FT Melges
The authors assessed the relationship between depersonalization (defined by
self-estrangement and body image diffusion) and temporal disintegration
(impaired goal-directedness and temporal indistinction) in 37 acutely ill
hospitalized psychiatric patients. Substantial correlations were found
between these two phenomena, confirming previous work. The finding that
body image diffusion is positively correlated with temporal disintegration
suggests that distortions of personal space accompany distortions of
personal time.
