Alcoholism in Antarctica (opens in new tab)

The interesting part of this story, for me, was how Antarctica is for some the ultimate, final destination for people escaping from themselves. If anything, this only highlights the need to improve awareness and treatment of mental illness in the United States.

It is obvious to anyone who has first-hand experience with these issues that you can never outrun your own problems. Some people flee for a while before realizing this, someone just keeps taking the delusion to its logical end. What is really needed is an acceptance that it's okay to have issues and that in most cases, they can actually be treated.

Doing satellite tech/eng stuff overwinter in Antarctica is one of my dream jobs (along with obviously doing the same thing for Mars, which would be even better).

9 months isn't that long, and I can't imagine wanting to spend all the time drunk, rather than learning about all the interesting science going on. Plus, obviously, Internet.

This post reminded me of an antarctica blog I stumbled on years ago: http://www.bigdeadplace.com/welcome-to-the-program/

The Q & A bit here ("what are things you wish you brought?") seems to list a fair amount of booze/booze related items. http://www.bigdeadplace.com/ask-an-antarctican-2/

I'd love to spend a winter at McMurdo ... but I have no idea how to get there without being a scientist :(

I've spent time in Antarctica, specifically at the South Pole and not during the winter. Even in the summer months, there is a lot of drinking.

Antarctica was a great experience and I would do it all over again, but honestly the novelty wears off after only a couple weeks. McMurdo might be a bit better since it is on the coast and has a much larger community. The South Pole is just cold, white, dry and flat in every direction. Feels a bit like mild sensory deprivation after a while. There is not much to do besides work, drink, and sleep.

My father spent 13 months there while in the Navy in 1963. He just gotten married and two weeks later went off. In return the Navy let him pick any assignment for three year stint which was Bermuda. Talk about a long thawing seeing that I wasn't born till some years later.

He told me stories about the drinking and the bleakness etc. It's even worse at the Amundsen–Scott Station where he was frequently sent over the 13 month period.

I do wonder if he developed his alcoholism while being down there because of the environment or it was a trigger. He no doubt had long hidden problems and alcohol was his way of self-medicating.

He's gone now so I will never know but this article brought back a lot of memories of our conversations about his experiences down there.

The casual reference to "hypothyroidism in Antarctica" got me curious. Apparently there's a link with working in low temperatures, and research on it, e.g. http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/86/1/110.full

P.S. also bumped into yesterday's jwz post http://www.jwz.org/blog/2013/06/how-to-drink-in-antarctica/

Time has a different meaning at the South Pole if you are working with offsite people, as is typical of the science winter overs. "Day" is when the internet connection is working. "Night" is when it is not. There is only satellite coverage for half the day.

I wonder what kind of effect legal marijuana would have on the same crowd if it were available as a nice alternative to Alcohol

This is a fascinating look at the stations.

I'm tempted to add alcohol to my local install of Mars Simulation Project. (http://mars-sim.sourceforge.net/)

Great punchline: >even one friend that isn’t a bottle is a better than none.