The time game - Temporal perspectives of patients and staff in alcohol and drug treatment

'he social notion of time, subjective time horizons and past-present-future orientations are rarely discussed in addiction treatment research. However, it can be assumed that treatment satisfaction and treatment success will also depend on the way staff and patients handle and manage time during inpatient treatment. This article presents the first data on the dimensions and patterns of tune use, in the Forel alcohol clinic, among selected therapeutic communities for drug users, and from a general population sample in Switzerland. The following issues are addressed: Is the future-orientation of drug and alcohol patients lower than in the general population? How well do time perspectives of patients and therapists match? What types of time management, or 'sub-cultural roles' (e.g. 'doing time', 'killing time'), can be observed? How well do time orientations predict treatment satisfaction and expected treatment success? The uncle concludes with an outline of possible follow-up work.