[4] For these reasons, the immobility, monotony, harsh physical environment, sexual deprivation, and the general isolation are believed to contribute to increased anxiety and depression among the residents of Antarctic stations.

The most important psychological stresses appear to be the problems of individual adjustment to the group, the relative monotony of the environment, and the absence of certain accustomed sources of emotional satisfaction.

During field work conducted at the McMurdo and South Pole stations in 1988 and 1989, informants complained that the lack of privacy and constant gossip within the community had a negative influence on social relationships, especially between men and women.

[7] While research around the winter-over syndrome dates back to the 1950s, there is no set of exclusive indicators that can typically reveal a diagnosis of the same.

"Our analyses of the human experience in Antarctica suggest that there are few, if any, traits that serve as useful predictors of performance during the austral winter," Palinkas wrote in a paper called "The Psychology of Antarctic Research."