The less an individual is conscious of time, the more likely he is to be free of psychopathology. Under normal circumstances, time remains implicit and largely unconscious; but it tends to dominate consciousness in schizophrenia and borderline conditions as well as in normal people under stress. This exaggerated awareness of the sense of time is experienced as an affectless state. When consciousness becomes dominated by affect, the sense of time speeds up and then recedes, until all awareness of time is lost. Distortions in the sense of time reflect defensive operations with reference to unconscious fantasies that are characteristic of one's internal object relationships. Depending on the effectiveness of the defense in blocking the destructive intent and allowing for the fulfillment of the libidinal yearnings of such fantasies, time distortions tend to be experienced as pleasant (creative, blissful, ecstatic) or painful (boring, frightening, depressive).