Abstract
This chapter seeks to provide insight into the relevance of empirical findings on time and time perspective for clinical practice. Clinical examples are utilized to illustrate this relevance. Discussing a number of clinical case studies, the researchers include the usefulness of the concept of temporal flexibility in all stages of treatment, allowing for the transition from distress to well-being. Interestingly, five patient stories are presented to highlight the potential of temporal mismatch that induces intra- and interpersonal difficulties. In so doing, these examples serve to provide not only clear evidence of the applicability of prior conceptual and empirical developments in clinical settings but also guidance for possible future research directions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Boniwell, I., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2004). Balancing time perspective in pursuit of optimal functioning. In P. A. Liney & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice (pp. 165–178). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Brune, M. (2006). The evolutionary psychology of obsessive-compulsive disorder: The role of cognitive metarepresentation. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 49(3), 317–329.
Carstensen, L. L., Isaakowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously. American Psychologist, 54(3), 165–181.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity. New York: HarperCollins.
Davenhill, R. (2008). Psychoanalysis and old age. In R. Woods & L. Clare (Eds.), Handbook of clinical psychology of ageing (2nd ed., pp. 472–487). England: Wiley.
Dreyfus, G. (2011). Is mindfulness present-centred and non-judgmental? A discussion of the cognitive dimensions of mindfulness. Contemporary Buddism, 12(1), 41–54.
Germer, C. K., Siegel, C. K., & Fulton, P. R. (2005). Mindfulness and psychotherapy. New York: The Guilford Press.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. New York: Bantam Books.
Kazakina, E. (1999). Time perspective of older adults: Relationships to attachment style, psychological well-being and psychological distress. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia University.
Kazakina, E. (2013). Time perspective of older adults: Research and clinical practice. In M. P. Paixao et al. (Eds.), International studies in time perspective (pp. 71–86). Coimbra, Portugal: Coimbra University Press.
Kazakina, E. (2014). Mental time travel in clinical practice: The voyage from distress to well-being. “Mental Time Travel” Symposium, Pre-Conference at Society for Personality and Social Psychology Convention. February 26–28, 2015, Long Beach, California, USA (abstract was accepted but not published: available from author by request).
Kazakina, E. (2015). The uncharted territory: Time perspective research meets clinical practice. Temporal focus in psychotherapy across adulthood and old age. In M. Stolarski, N. Fieulaine & W. van Beek (Eds.), Time perspective theory; Review, research and application—Essays in honor of Philip G. Zimbardo (1st ed., pp. 499–516). Switzerland: Springer. ISBN: 978-3-319-07367-5.
Kazakina, E. (2016). The voyage from distress to well-being: Time perspective in clinical practice and beyond. In A. Sircova & S. Konowalczyk (Eds.), Third International Conference on Time Perspective: Celebrating Time. Book of Abstracts (p. 119). Copenhagen, Denmark (TPCPH2016-Book-of-Absrtacts.pdf).
Kazakina, E., Zimbardo, P. G., & van Beek, W. (2016). Temporality and family conflicts. In A. Sircova & S. Konowalczyk (Eds.), Third International Conference on Time Perspective: Celebrating Time. Book of Abstracts (p. 92). Copenhagen, Denmark (TPCPH2016-Book-of-Absrtacts.pdf).
Kierkegaard, S. (1843). Journalen JJ:167, Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter (1997—, Vol. 18, p. 306). Copenhagen: Søren Kierkegaard Research Center.
Klein, S., & Gangi, C. (2010). The multiplicity of self: Neuropsychological evidence and its implications for the self as a construct in psychological research. The Annals of New York Academy of Sciences, 1191(Issue: The Year in Cognitive Neuroscience, March), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05441.x
Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the self. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Lewin, K. (1943/1997). Defining the “field at a given time”. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Field theory in social science. Selected theoretical papers. In resolving social conflicts. Field theory in social science (pp. 200–211). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. (Original work published 1943).
Loewald, H. W. (1980a). Superego and time. In H. W. Loewald (Ed.), Papers on psychoanalysis (pp. 43–52). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. (Reprinted from International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 1962, 43).
Loewald, H. W. (1980b). The experience of time. In H. W. Loewald (Ed.), Papers on psychoanalysis (pp. 138–147). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. (Reprinted from The Psychanalytic Study of the Child, 1972, 27).
Maglio, S. J., Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2015). From time perspective to psychological distance (and back). In M. Stolarski, N. Fieulaine & W. van Beek (Eds.), Time perspective theory; Review, research and application—Essays in honor of Philip G. Zimbardo (1st ed., pp. 143–154). Switzerland: Springer. ISBN: 978-3-319-07367-5.
Mello, Z. R., & Worrell, F. C. (2015). The past, the present, and the future: A conceptual model of time perspective in adolescence. In M. Stolarski, N. Fieulaine & W. van Beek (Eds.), Time perspective theory; Review, research and application—Essays in honor of Philip G. Zimbardo. (1st ed., pp. 115–129). Switzerland: Springer. ISBN: 978-3-319-07367-5.
Moore, B. E., & Fine, B. D. (1990). Psychoanalytic terms and concepts. New Haven: The American Psychoanalytic Association; Yale University Press.
Nisbet, E. K., & Zelenski, J. M. (2011). Underestimating nearby nature. Affective forecasting errors obscure the happy path to sustainability. Psychological Science, 22(9), 1101–1106.
Phelan, T. W. (2016). 1-2-3-Magic: Effective discipline for children 2-12 (6th ed.). Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.
Perlis, M. L., Jungquist, C., Smith, M. T., & Posner, D. (2008). Behavioral treatment of insomnia: A session-by-session guide (1st ed.). New York: Springer.
Sirois, F. (2012). What was, is, and will be: Temporal holism, well-being, and the pursuit of goals. In M. P. Paixao et al. (Eds.), First International Conference on Time Perspective: Converging Paths in Psychology Time Theory and Research. Book of Abstracts (p. 72). University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Stolarski, M., Wiberg, B., & Osin, E. (2015). Assessing temporal harmony: The issue of a balanced time perspective. In M. Stolarski, N. Fieulaine & W. van Beek (Eds.), Time perspective theory; Review, research and application—Essays in honor of Philip G. Zimbardo (1st ed., pp. 57–71). Switzerland: Springer. ISBN: 978-3-319-07367-5.
Stolarski, M., & Witowska, J. (2017). Looking at own time perspective from an aerial view: On the role of metacognitive processes in temporal framing (In this volume).
Storr, A. (2005). Solitude: A return to the self. New York: Free Press.
Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M. C. (1997). Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 123(2), 133–167.
Tulving, E., & Kim, A. (2007). Evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel, and is it unique to humans? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(3), 334–335.
Van Beek, W. (2012). What was, what is, and what will be: Temporal thinking in suicidal individuals and how to change it in therapy. In M. P. Paixao et al. (Eds.), First International Conference on Time Perspective: Converging Paths in Psychology Time Theory and Research. Book of Abstracts (p. 49). University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Van Beek, W. (2017). Prenatal past (In this volume).
Van Beek, W., Kerchief, A., & Beekman, A. (2009). Future oriented group training for suicidal patients: A randomized clinical trial. BMC Psychiatry, 9, 65. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-9-65
Van Beek, W., & Chistopolskaya, K. (2015). Friend or foe? Escape from death or death as an escape? In M. Stolarski, N. Fieulaine, & W. van Beek (Eds.), Time perspective; Review and application—Essays in honor of Philip G. Zimbardo (1st ed., pp. 471–480). Switzerland: Springer. ISBN:978-3-319-07367-5.
Vowinckel, J. C. (2012). Balanced time perspectives and mindfulness. Universiteit Twente. Retrieved March 2, 2017, from http://essay.utwente.nl/62422/1/Vowinckel,_J.C._-_s0160067_(verslag).pdf
Webster, J. D. (2011). A new measure of time perspective: Initial psychomentric findings for the balanced time perspective scale (BTPS). Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 43(2), 11–118. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022801
Wiberg, M., Sircova, A., Wiberg, B., & Carelli, M. G. (2012). Operationalizing balanced time perspective in a Swedish sample. The International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment, 12(1), 95–107.
Wiberg, M., Sircova, A., Wiberg, B., & Carelli, M. G. (2017). Balanced time perspective: Developing empirical profile and exploring its stability over time (In this volume).
Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-differences metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1271–1288.
Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (2008). The time paradox. New York: Free Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kazakina, E., van Beek, W. (2017). Temporal Focus in Psychotherapy: Clinical Tales of Past, Present, and Future. In: Kostić, A., Chadee, D. (eds) Time Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60191-9_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60191-9_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-60190-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-60191-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)