Winter in Antarctica teaches coping skills?

Press, 5 March 1987, Page 31

Winter in Antarctica teaches coping skills?

NZPA-AP New York Navy personnel who spent a winter in Antarctica had lower rates of admission to hospital after returning home than other sailors, suggesting they learned valuable coping skills, a researcher has said. “Those who went down there ended up being healthier than those who didn’t,” said an anthropologist, Lawrence Palinkas, of the Naval Health Research Centre in San Diego. For his study, described in the March issue of “Psychology Today,” he reviewed the medical histories and psychological profiles of all Navy per-

sonnel who were accepted for Antarctic duty between 1963 and 1974. The Navy provides sailors for four Antarctic research stations that collect biological, geological and meteorological data.

Past studies have shown that Antarctic duty imposes such stresses as social and physical isolation, monotony and confinement, "Psychology Today” reported. Those who spend the winter, mid-February to mid-October, can suffer dry skin, nausea, feelings of paranoia, intense loneliness, sleep difficulties, depression and anxiety, the magazine said. In studying the records

of those accepted for Antarctic duty, Palinkas found that those who spent the winter in Antarctica had a lower rate of first admissions to hospital for any cause once they got home than sailors who did not serve in Antarctica.

That occurred even though those who did serve there had more health risks, such as smoking and drinking more, he said.

Palinkas believes that dealing with the stresses of Antarctica taught the Navy personnel coping strategies that later reduced their risk of illness, the magazine said.