Time perspective, personality and psychopathology: Zimbardo’s time perspective inventory in psychiatry

Abstract

Time perspective theory assumes that behaviour is influenced by how individuals link their behaviour to their past, present, and future. This paper explores the concept of time perspective ( Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999 ) within a psychiatric context. We compared 76 individuals, in treatment ( n = 32) or not in treatment ( n = 44). The participants completed the time perspective questionnaire ZTPI, the NEO-PI-R (personality traits), an instrument to measure personality problems SIPP-118, and the BDI-II (depression). We found correlations between measures of psychopathology and Past Positive, Past Negative and Present Fatalistic time perspectives. Particularly Past Negative appeared to be indicative for psychiatric problems.