Aesquire.180 net.suicide utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!esquire!psl Sat Dec 26 17:38:46 1981 Suicide Season Interviewed on the NPR radio new show "All Things Considered", clinical psychologist Rachel Allman (Harvard Med. School) who has been researching the statistics supporting the "Holiday Blues" stated that it's a myth. Statistics apparently show that suicides peak in April and that psychiatric hospital admissions peak in mid summer. Asked where the Holiday Blues myth originated she said that the notion first appeared in psychiatric journals in the 40's and 50's and was espoused by the media. Since that time psychiatrists and the media have been bolstering each other's belief in the concept. She indicated that she still gets arguments from clinicians and others over this idea, but the only evidence they can ever give is "personal experiance". She suggests that these people may see any depression around the holiday season in their (already) depressed patients as proof of the holiday blues and any depression at other times (e.g. April) as "the exception that proves the rule". [This is all very much paraphrased by me since I just heard it on the radio and don't take shorthand -- for that matter I can barely read my normal, slow handwriting.] This particular episode of "All Things Considered" is rebroadcast on WNYC AM (83) on Sunday evening at 8:30, (I think). Peter Langston ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.