LUNAR CYCLES AND VIOLENT BEHAVIOR

Objective: It is commonly believed that the full moon exerts an influe nce on violence and aggression in psychiatric settings. The literature to date is contentious. This study used a robust methodology to exami ne the hypothesis that there was an increased frequency of violent and aggressive behaviour among hospitalised psychiatric clients at the ti me of the full moon. Method: Prospective data were collected in five i npatient psychiatric settings across the Northern Sydney Area Health S ervice. Morrison's hierarchy of violence and aggression was used to ra te behaviour. Lunar phases were clearly defined and Poisson regression used to examine relationships between lunar phase and violence. Extra neous temporal variation was considered. Results: No significant relat ionship was found between total violence and aggression or level of vi olence and aggression and any phase of the moon. Conclusion: Future re search could profitably examine the implications of a belief in the lu nar effect among health workers in the face of evidence that no relati onship exists between violence, aggression and the lunar cycle.