A thematic analysis of the experience of time.

A category system describing the human experience of time was developed in efforts to put existing theoretical notions about time ("future time perspective," "time urgency," "object constancy," etc.) into a broader theoretical context. Twenty mature, articulate, well-educated subjects were interviewed about their "experience of time." A thematic analysis of these interviews produced three major categories: (1) Change and Continuity ("becoming in time"), (2) Limits and Choices ("doing in time"), and (3) Tempo ("pacing in time"). The experience of time in various diagnostic groups was discussed in terms of the category system.