# Loss of Time=Craziness? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2001, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loss-of-time-craziness/49748 "2001-01-12T19:55:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mongrel\_8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@mongrel\_8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mongrel_8)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2001, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loss-of-time-craziness/49748/1 "2001-01-12T19:55:36Z")
Upon recently reading the Discover article on whether time exists I was reminded of a scene in the movie IQ. In a lab there is a containment room where a man is contained who has no sense of time. He is acting pretty crazy till one of the character gives him a watch, and then he calms down. What I am wondering is if there is any basis upon this was built? Has a test like this ever been performed? Please forgive if I have misrepresented the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Chief\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loss-of-time-craziness/49748/2 "2001-01-12T20:38:36Z")
I remember an old test I heard back in high school. You were supposed to hold a watch before you that counts out seconds, close your eyes and count out sixty seconds in your head. If upon opening your eyes, you discovered any kind of gross misperception (i.e., only a few seconds had passed or many minutes had passed after counting to sixty.) it was supposed to indicate you were going crazy. There may be certain types of mental disorders where some kind of perceptual temporal disturbance occurs, but I doubt it has any kind of real validity. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2001, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loss-of-time-craziness/49748/3 "2001-01-12T20:52:20Z")
Isaac Asimov’s story **Nightfall** comes to mind. Only in that story, everyone freaks out night arrives, since it comes only every couple thousand years as the result of the numerous suns. ---
**Author:** ![mongrel\_8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@mongrel\_8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mongrel_8)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2001, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loss-of-time-craziness/49748/4 "2001-01-13T23:48:08Z")
Thanks for the posts **Chief Crunch** and **Mjollnir** , but no one has any other idea as to where they would have gotten this from? ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loss-of-time-craziness/49748/5 "2001-01-14T00:30:51Z")
from a psychophysiological perspective, I would have to say the guy wasn’t crazy because he “lost” time. I am sure that if one’s mind couldn’t connect the flow of time together, one would either have a hard time dealing with the world, and/or go insane. But if those neurons responsible for the man’s conception of time were damaged or missing, the watch would mean nothing to him. What do you mean when you ask if tests were ever performed? That loss of the flow of time may cause insanity? I doubt this is true. If anything, I say the converse may be true. IF the story in I.Q. is based on fact, it seems much more likely that the man has some kind of psychological problem (severe neurosis or psychosis), and believes he is out of the flow of time. The watch would give him something to focus on (think Dumbo’s feather) and allow himself to be back in time. jb ---
**Author:** ![robinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@robinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinh)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loss-of-time-craziness/49748/6 "2001-01-14T00:59:48Z")
I would tend to think that the example is pure fiction. I remember (and it was ages ago, so no references) reading about experiments where people were put into self-contained environments (i.e. no sunlight or clocks) to test things like sleep cycles and other normal rhythms, and in these tests the subjects did not experience any “craziness”, but did change over to a 25 hour “day” (their sleep and wake cycles patterned over an average of 25 hours.) That was somewhat interesting to me-the idea that we may be, internally, fighting against the imposed rhythms of our planet-but I haven’t read anything recently and don’t know if anyone has duplicated this or come up with any suggestions as to why our presumably natural inclinations would run counter to our environment.