The Double-Entry Time Trap: Reframing Temporal Distortion as a Perpetuating Mechanism in Addiction

Background: Temporal distortion is a widely recognized phenomenon in the context of substance use disorders and behavioral addictions. However, empirical data regarding the direction of this distortion remain highly contradictory. We argue that this theoretical impasse largely stems from the systematic conflation of the broad physiological phase of withdrawal with the acute psychological state of craving.Method: In alignment with the aims of a Think piece, we conducted a selective, critical narrative review of the literature across chronobiology, cognitive psychology, and clinical addiction research, encompassing both substance use and behavioral addictions.Results: Empirical evidence supports a dynamic mechanism that resolves current contradictions by strictly disentangling acute craving from general abstinence. First, highly arousing and aversive states, such as craving, accelerate the internal pacemaker, causing subjective time to significantly dilate. Conversely, when craving subsides during general withdrawal, underlying trait-level executive function deficits (i.e., working memory and attention) are unmasked, causing temporal underestimation. Second, during active consumption or gaming episodes, attentional resources are entirely diverted away from the internal mechanisms of time tracking, leading to subjective time acceleration and severe underestimation.Conclusions: The "double-entry time trap" hypothesis posits that the exhaustion of coping strategies during dilated craving, combined with the persistent feeling of insufficiency following accelerated consumption, actively perpetuates the cycle of addiction and drives the transition toward compulsive habits. Integrating cognitive remediation therapies specifically targeted at readjusting time perception could significantly improve long-term recovery outcomes.Keywords: Time perception, Temporal distortion, Substance Use Disorder, Behavioral addiction, Craving, Executive function.