More aggression at the full moon?

The word “aggression” derives from the Latin verb “aggredi” which means »approach, attack«. This is interesting, because it does not only contain a destructive energy, but also a proceeding, solution-oriented energy. We also speak of tackling problems or approaching a task. During the course of the centuries, the component of attacking and destroying appears to have become dominant, so much so, that we judge aggression nowadays negatively and see the result to be destruction, violence and war. It is easily understandable now, why people are having such a difficult time to deal naturally with their aggressions that they express or restrain. We have put a negative mark on it. And we neither want to carry something negative inside us, nor do we want to voice it.

Many people say that they are irritable and aggressive at the full moon, in fact more than during other lunar phases. Apparently, it leads quite easily to arguments, the aggressions erupt. Is there actually a connection to the moon phases?

So, we took a look at some researches to see whether more crimes, attacks and assaults have taken place at the full moon. The result: generally no increase of incidents can be determined. There is for example a study from Germany, where 23,142 cases of grievous bodily harm were investigated, during the course of seven years and no correlation could be found between the attacks and the phases of the Moon:

“No significant associations between full, absent, and the moon’s interphases and serious crimes of battery could be detected.”

Biermann T, Asemann R et al.
Comprehensive Psychiatry. 2009 Nov-Dec;50(6):573-7.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19840597

Almost all studies provide similar results: no correlation to the full moon. And even though, researches exist, which detect a connection (i.e. Lieber AL. The Journal of clinical psychiatry. 1978 May;39(5):385-92), these results could not be confirmed in follow-up studies or they were completely disproved by meta-analysis – meaning the synopsis for several comparable researches.

So, it looks pretty bad with regard to making the full moon responsible for our aggressions. There are probably various other aspects in our lives that make us boil inside. Until we have gained more knowledge about this, it might surely help to try and learn a new way of dealing with aggressions in general. Certainly a demanding task …