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EMOTIONAL CLIMATES: RITUAL, SEASONALITY AND AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
Author(s) -
Harrison Simon
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2004.00203.x
Subject(s) - mood , seasonality , natural (archaeology) , history , sociology , psychology , ethnology , geography , social psychology , ecology , archaeology , biology
This article discusses resemblances between the religious symbolism of the annual cycle in certain societies, and seasonally linked mood disorders (notably seasonal affective disorder, or SAD) in contemporary Europe and North America. Two conclusions are drawn: first, that the ritual and symbolism connected with seasonality in some societies may be partly motivated by neurophysiology; second, that SAD is a culture‐bound syndrome limited to societies that generate disjunctions between ‘social’ and ‘natural’ time.