Crazy conditions: The Italian-French Concordia research station situated over 1000 km inland on the Antarctic Plateau. It is one of the coldest places on Earth, with an annual average air temperature of -54.5°C. Researchers overwintering here also have to endure many months of total darkness.

Credit: AFP

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PARIS: Intense stress but ultimately a massive boost to self-esteem await the individual who joins an expedition to the North or South Pole, say psychologists.

Intense cold, a physically tough life, and isolated existence within a small group breed a long list of mental negatives, said Lawrence Palinkas of the University of Southern California at Los Angeles and Peter Suedfeld of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

The pair pen a psychological investigation of polar isolation in British medical journal The Lancet this week.

Problems include depression, anxiety, irritability, impaired cognition, intellectual inertia and a spaced-out condition called "Antarctic stare," formally known as a spontaneous fugue state.

"About five per cent of people on expeditions meet... criteria for psychiatric disorders," the authors write.

Negative effects, positive outcome

"However, they also experience positive or so-called salutogenic outcomes resulting from successfully coping with stress, and enhanced self-sufficiency, improved health and personal growth."

The paper reviewed published research into the health effects of polar expeditions, a term that includes exploration, treks, stays at summer camps and sojourns at year-round research stations.

Organisations screening candidates for short-term expeditions should look for someone with a high motivation to achieve, a high sense of adventure and a low susceptibility to anxiety.

The researchers report that for long expeditions, the ideal person would be aged over 30, be emotionally stable, rather introverted, with no great need for social interaction but also sensitive to the needs of others, and who would not become bored easily.