- Anorexia nervosa involves a profound distortion of time perception, with the subject effectively living outside of time.
- This temporal alteration drives compulsive behaviours, like urgent actions and avoidance of empty spaces, to manage untimed emotions.
- People in remission often report a pervasive sense of lost time and the subjective feeling of having wasted years.
Soins. 2026 Oct;71(909):60-63. doi: 10.1016/j.soin.2026.07.031. Epub 2026 Sep 28.
ABSTRACT
This article analyzes anorexia nervosa through the hypothesis that at its core lies a profound alteration in the perception of time. More specifically, it develops the idea that time has evaporated for the anorexic subject (who lives outside of time). This distortion leads to compulsive behaviors – such as feeling compelled to act urgently or avoiding empty spaces – which are an organized response to the inability to contextualize emotions within a temporal framework. Ultimately, the fundamental loss of the sense of time produces, in the person in remission, the feeling of having wasted their time.
PMID:42887944 | DOI:10.1016/j.soin.2026.07.031
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