By the way . . . Should we be wary of a full moon?

THERE was something up in my clinic last week. I couldn’t put my finger on it but we had lots of consultations regarding anxiety , abusive phone calls and generally odd behaviour.

There was a full moon at the weekend. A previous boss of mine always swore blind that there was a relationship between a patient’s behaviour and the lunar cycle.

Having studied King Lear in school, Shakespeare swayed my opinion on the full moon long before I studied psychiatry. He thought we are all ‘governed by the stars’.

But back then, pre-electricity, a full moon meant you effectively couldn’t turn the light off and get a good night’s sleep, and you and everybody else in your neighbourhood had to pull an all-nighter. Understandably it didn’t bode well for one’s mood. The word lunatic is still used in conversation today. Thankfully, it has been eliminated from medical terminology. It’s derived from Luna, the Roman goddess of the moon. The great philosopher Aristotle believed because our brain consisted of so much water, it was also susceptible to the influences of the moon which triggers tides.

A full moon was thought to be associated with violence, insomnia, disasters, accidents, fertility spikes, mental fragility and even werewolves. In fact, in 19th century England you could even be found guilty of a crime by reason of a ‘full moon’. But back to today, is there any truth behind the full moon myth? Should we avoid A/E and steer clear of doctor’s surgeries when the moon is at its fullest — or is the association mere fiction?

Well, if you ask healthcare professionals, their answer will be resoundingly yes. They tell stories of bizarre psychiatric admissions, strange happenings on the labour ward and a disproportionate number of patients pitching up with dog bites when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. However, the academic papers don’t back it up. Full moon day is like any other day on the job and any association with madness is an urban myth.