[Chronogenesis, psychorhythms and work].

Abstract

Working is man's wealth. His work has shaped the world as it is. But modern work, technology, artificial light, after splitting up tasks, threaten the "synchronous" progress of days and seasons. Working time is more and more reduced, moved forward or back, sensorially isolated, socially "sterilized", with high production rates etc... Under the domination of the production/consumption scheme, man's appetites have been released; his needs have increased; he no longer bears any lack, failure or frustration. Thus, the usual forms of working time organization, with their arbitrary divisions, the monotony, repetitiveness and other restricting factors (stress), not only do not contribute to self-realization, but create rancor, boredom and drama. Man's time is not only the time of the clocks, il is also experience, anticipation, memory. The psychopathological risk is the "burning out" of the subject, and the defences developed against it, such as humour (casualness), aloofness (abdication), deviance and drug-dependence. Prevention supposes some other time, with more freedom, to favour self-realization. One of the first tasks of tomorrow's medicine will be to reconcile working and non-working time.