Our relationship with time

© DRFP/Odile Jacob

What are the most common worries your patients have about time? 
The passing of time has an oppressive effect on women in particular, but all the same, women are better prepared to deal with it than men because we men can fool ourselves into thinking we'll be forever young. Women have biological clocks ticking away to remind them of the limited time they have to have children, and they're more aware of the importance of their physical appearance when it comes to seduction. I think women are more inclined to be philosophical than men about time.

Why do we all have such different ways of thinking about time? 
It's the same as anything: according to our temperament, our education, our religious beliefs, and of course our ages, we all have different conceptions of time, the importance of time wasted or time gained, youth and old age. 

Why do some people see time as their enemy? 
First of all because, logically, as time passes we get closer to the end of our lives! Time reminds us of our own mortality: time will always go on, we're the ones who pass away. People see time as their enemy because there is a universal ideology nowadays dictating that we should always make the most of our time: we should be as productive as possible at work and our free time should be as full as possible. But it's not true that time gone by without event equals time wasted.