Exploring the Potential Psychiatric Implications of Astronomical Phenomena.

Our study evaluates the potential psychiatric impact of the full phase of the moon on patients in a state psychiatric hospital in Buffalo, New York, between September 2013 and July 2018. This relationship is presented as the average number of restraints or seclusions (R&S) and code green psychiatric emergencies (CG) recorded 14 days before and 14 days after a full moon. Since the timeframe of the analysis included the August 21, 2017, solar eclipse, we also highlight the correlation between a partial solar eclipse and the number of CG events. We also compared full moon phase effects in 2017 to other years to benchmark whether the solar eclipse appeared to influence behavioral effects from baseline. While there was a slight decrease in mean R&S on days where there was a full moon or in the month of a partial solar eclipse, the results were not considered to be significant or associated with human behavior. There was no real association between lunar and solar behavior and the actions of patients with psychiatric disorders.