The objective of the study was to determine how patients with eating disorders perceive time, and in particular whether their experience of time differs from that of healthy individuals. Another goal was to examine the relationship between the mood of the subjects and their time perspective. The subjects were 30 women with eating disorders and 30 age-matched healthy female controls. The three measures applied were: the Time Metaphors Questionnaire by Sobol-Kwapinska, the Time Perspective Inventory by Zimbardo, and the UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (UMACL) by Matthews et al.

The objective of the study was to determine how individuals with eating disorders perceive time, and in particular whether their experience of time differs from that of healthy persons. Another aim was to investigate the relationship between the mood of the subjects and their time perception as well as determine a variable moderating that relationship.

First, it was expected that eating-disordered patients experience time as a rather aversive and unfriendly force marked with chaos and void, in contrast to healthy subjects, who were predicted to treat it as something more friendly, appreciating its subtleties and the significance of the moment (Hypothesis 1).

Moreover, it was expected that individuals with eating disorders would exhibit a more negative temporal orientation, whether past or present, as compared to healthy controls, who would reveal more positive past, present, or future orientations (Hypothesis 2).

Finally, it was predicted that eating disorders moderate the relationship between mood and time perception (Hypothesis 3).

The study encompassed 30 women with eating disorders (19 patients with anorexia nervosa and 11 patients with bulimia nervosa) and 30 age-matched normal healthy controls. The clinical group consisted of patients of the residential eating disorder therapeutic center "Drzewo zycia" in Malawa as well as some outpatient clinics in Poland; some of the patients were not being actively treated at the time of the study. The controls included psychology students from two Polish universities (the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University and the University of Finance and Management, both in Warsaw), as well as researchers and educators who volunteered for the study.

The three measures applied in the study were:

• The Time Metaphors Questionnaire by Sobol-Kwapinska;
• Time Perspective Inventory by Zimbardo (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999; see also Zimbardo & Boyd, 2009);
• The UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (UMACL) (Matthews at al.; see also Gorynska, 2005).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Clinical diagnosis of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa)
• Age between 18 and 40 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• diagnosis of other (except eating disorders) mental disorder
• Age below 18 years and above 40 years

The clinical and control groups did not differ significantly in terms of age (t = 1.64, p = 0.100) or height (t = -0.54, p = 0.590). Obviously, significant differences were found in terms of weight and BMI (t = -2.93 and t = -3.03, p < 0.01, respectively): women with eating disorders were much lighter (M = 50.78, SD = 13.05) and had a much lower BMI (M = 18.3, SD = 4.49) than healthy controls (M = 60.43, SD = 12.48, and M = 21.62, SD = 3.98, respectively). The mean duration of eating disorder was 8.9 years (SD = 5.23).