It reminded me of Slaughterhouse-Five, where the main character is said to be 'unstuck in time' (in fact, that is precisely how 1996 Faraday describes Desmond's condition). An interesting footnote is that Vonnegut's character became that way after surviving a plane crash...Although that's not the case with Desmond, I think it's reasonable to assume that they were referencing that particular novel for the story of this episode.