Photo Credit: Pitris
Some studies suggest a link between celestial events and hormone fluctuations in psychiatric patients, while others find no real association with mental health.
According to a 2011 study in the World Journal of Surgery, 40% of medical professionals believe that lunar phases can influence human behavior, but what about solar eclipses?
The question of whether solar eclipses impact mental health continues to intrigue researchers. While some studies suggest a potential link between celestial events and hormone fluctuations in psychiatric patients, others find no real association between lunar and solar behavior and mental health.
Psychiatric & Social Media Solar Eclipse Study
A 40-year-old study published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry tracked hormone levels in psychiatric patients during a total solar eclipse. The researchers found an increase in prolactin levels, which correlated with behavioral abnormalities during and immediately after the eclipse. More recently, a 2019 study published in Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience found a slight decrease in mean restraints or seclusions on days in which there was a full moon or in the month of a partial solar eclipse, but the results were not considered to be significant or associated with human behavior.
Meanwhile, social media analysis during eclipses shows a different kind of impact. Sean Goldy, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, led a study published in Psychological Science involving meta-analysis of Twitter posts from more than 28 million users during 2017’s total solar eclipse. Findings revealed that users within the path of totality were more likely to express awe and affiliation with others. Dr. Goldy notes that the awe experienced during a total eclipse shifts our focus away from ourselves and towards the world around us. This shift in perspective may have broader social impact on mental well-being, fostering a sense of connection and perspective beyond the individual self.
Collective Experience of Connection May Impact Well-Being
Kate Russo, PhD, psychologist and umbraphile, has described the awe-inspiring experience of witnessing a total solar eclipse as profound—from a sense of wrongness and primal fear as totality approaches to powerful feelings of awe and connection during the event, to a lingering desire to seek out the next eclipse afterward.
While scientific studies fail to definitively prove a direct impact of solar eclipses on mental health, the collective experience of awe and connection that eclipses inspire suggests that they may indeed have a profound and uplifting effect on well-being.
