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Ice Station Antarct...
Isolated, Confined Environment (ICE)
Psychologists categorize Antarctic research stations as isolated, confined environments (ICE, appropriately). People who live at these stations are isolated from the outside world, from their family and friends back home, and from many of the ongoing global issues. They are not allowed to leave the continent during their stay, and most are not permitted to leave the base, confined to a very small area. Furthermore, relatively few people live at these stations, so everybody interacts with the same people on a daily basis (even at McMurdo, which hosts a maximum of 1,200 people during the peak summer season, people interact only with the people in their work, dining, and dorm spheres). People become interdependent on each other, and they develop camaraderie and a tight-knit community. This tight-knit community, however, comes with a lack of privacy; everybody knows everybody else’s business.
In Antarctica, people do not have the same responsibilities and obligations that they do at home. The absence of these duties sometimes leads to more time for introspection and forming closer, more intimate bonds with other people. People pay more attention to their personal feelings and Antarctica is so separated from people’s homes and normal lives that many use their time on the continent as an opportunity to re-invent themselves. People may experiment with completely new behaviors and personalities that they never would at home. They utilize this time-out from the responsibilities of everyday life at home to discover who they want to be and who they really are.
The inability to contact family and friends emphasizes that Antarctica is not home. Also, mobility is limited and there are few people to interact with. Because of the constant inability to contact loved ones, get away from the base, and meet new people, pressure to fit in increases. In order to fit in better, many people may conform to the norms of the group; this gives people a sense of belonging and helps them develop relationships.
When people leave Antarctica—or any ICE—they often feel emotionally connected to the place and the other people who lived with them. Many feel that they have become more self-confident, understanding, and humane.
Implications for Long-Term Manned Space Missions ICEs on Earth mirror the living situation of astronauts on long-term missions, such as stays in the International Space station, missions to Mars (eight months each way), and running and conducting research on eventual bases on the moon and Mars. Antarctica is perhaps the best ICE to simulate life in space, for it hosts the harshest conditions on our planet and involves a lot of technology to cope with the hostile environment. Both Antarctica and space require equipment, clothing, and shelter designed specifically for the harsh environment and huge supply stocks in order to survive. Both entail living in confined quarters with a diverse group of people who (most likely) did not know each other previously and did not choose to live together, isolated from friends, family and the rest of the world, and dealing with agency authorities and potential medical and equipment emergencies. By observing the behavior and psychology of Antarcticans, psychologists can advice to space agencies and contractors on how to make living spaces more comfortable and how to prepare astronauts for the mental and emotional hardships they will endure.
“Some of us call life here at Pole Groundhog's Day after the movie where Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again.” -1996 journal entry by Chris Bero
In addition to the regular conditions of an ICE (separation from loved ones, stuck with the same people who they did not choose to live with, lack of privacy, and harsh environment), people who spend the winter in Antarctica are subject to constant darkness, resulting in “winter-over syndrome”. Symptoms include mild depression, insomnia, fatigue, long eye (“20-foot stare in a 10-foot room”), irritability, slowed cognitive and physical responses, inability to concentrate, social withdrawal, and lack of attention to personal hygiene, hostility, and other psychosomatic symptoms. These reactions help people adapt to their environment—slowing down fills up more time when there is not much to do, and it is difficult to remain hygienic when showers and laundry are limited. Additionally, there have been instances of rebellion against authority, assault, and sexual harassment, though they are rare.
After the last plane out takes off, the atmosphere is initially celebratory and rebellious; the winter-overers bond over doing things that were previously prohibited. The symptoms of winter-over syndrome begin by midwinter, due to the end of the rebellious streak and the monotony of working and living with the same people day in and day out, and peak about three-quarters through the winter (hence psychologists call this the “third quarter phenomenon”). Stress seems to increase as the winter goes on, but as the end of winter approaches, it seems to decrease in anticipation for sunlight and going home. However, when the newcomers arrive, the winter-overers feel a sense of invasion.
The 24-hour darkness disturbs people’s circadian rhythms (the body’s internal clock that is governed by light and dark) so that they have difficulty sleeping. Stage IV, which is one of the periods of deep sleep that restores the brain and body, completely disappears, and Stage III, the other period of deep sleep, and rapid eye movement (REM) are disrupted as well. Winter-overers who suffer from insomnia sit in the greenhouse, where there is full-spectrum lighting, but that cannot help much. It can take up to two years to recover regular sleep patterns.
When people in an ICE feel excluded and like they do not fit in, they can develop long eye. The feeling of belonging is crucial in an environment in which one feels trapped with the same people for months. Long eye helps people distance themselves from uncomfortable situations. However, people easily come out of their long eye when they again feel included.
If one outsider is particularly disliked, such as an NSF official, the rest of the group often bonds and forms solidarity due to shared contempt. “By directing hostility to the outside, you avoid blaming each other and you can even build some solidarity,” explains Albert Harrison, a psychologist at the University of California-Davis. To try to calm rising hostilities and stay in control over a situation from which one cannot escape, some people daydream about murdering another crew member who bothers them and who they feel they can no longer put up with. This coping mechanism, which includes developing a plot complete with minute details, is not uncommon. For example, researcher Chris Bero daydreamed about killing a demeaning fellow crew member by “spraying his tormentor with a supersoaker water gun filled with an acetate mixture that burns through clothing. Snowdrifts would cover the body, he envisioned, leaving no trace of the victim or the crime.” (http://scicom.ucsc.edu/scinotes/0001/crazy.htm) Bonding activities that serve to break the monotony include Polar Traditions and Drinking Where You Never Run Out of Ice. Additionally, the parties often have weird themes involving costumes and sometimes cross-dressing; such themes have included beach parties, science fiction, and diseases, among many other creative themes.
Although the winter-over syndrome subsides after leaving the Ice, some people have difficulties adapting to normal life during the first six months back at home.
Dealing with Psychological Problems
At the stations, psychologists offer counseling and educational services about possible psychological problems. Because the psychologists do not stay for the winter, they train some winter-overers to be peer-support counselors in their absence. Additionally, some continue counseling online from home.
In the 1960s, psychologists hired by the U.S. Navy analyzed evaluations of over 1,000 people who had wintered over in order to create a system to screen candidates before going to Antarctica. They determined that the most important factors for effective performance in the Antarctic are industriousness, emotional stability, and sociability. Today, before winter deployment USAP puts each candidate through the Winter Psyche Evaluation (known as the Psyche Eval), which includes a standardized test and personal interview with a psychologist, who then analyzes the results and decides if the person is fit to winter-over. However, according to the author of Big Dead Place, who spent several winters in Antarctica, “Psychology is bunk, the eval is a sham, and if you pass the test you will go on to inhabit a remote polar base with such a motley ensemble of control freaks and psychopaths that you will wonder why anyone even bothers with evaluations in the first place.”
Rothblum, Esther D., Weinstock, Jacqueline S., and Morris, Jessica F., eds. Women in the Antarctic. New York: The Haworth Press, 1998.
ANTARCTICA Natural Laboratory and Space Analogue for Psychological Research.pdf
http://scicom.ucsc.edu/scinotes/0001/crazy.htm
>> What do Antarcticans do for fun? Polar Traditions and Drinking Where You Never Run Out of Ice
>> Find out what life is like at McMurdo Station (U.S.), Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (U.S.), Esperanza Base (Argentina), or Eduardo Frei Montalva Station (Chile)
>> What is life like for Women in Antarctica?
>> So what are we doing there, anyway? Research Conducted
<< Go back to Life on The Ice
