ReviewJournal of clinical medicine2025
The Impact of Seasonality on Mental Health Disorders: A Narrative Review and Extension of the Immunoseasonal Theory.
Review in Journal of clinical medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Seasonal Mental Health Symptoms Amongst Former Criminal Legal System-Involved Adolescents.Journal of adolescence · 2026Article
- From weather to symptoms: Preliminary links between weather and inflammation in schizophrenia.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Influence of residential greenness and season on discontinuation of medication treatment for opioid use disorder across rural to urban community types.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- Effect of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) on IL-1β, IP-10, IL-17, TNFα, IL-10 and Soluble IL-2 Receptor in Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia (TRS) Patients-A Preliminary Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The impact of weather on mental illness is widely debated, but the mechanism of this relationship remains unclear. The immunoseasonal theory suggests that in winter, a T-helper 1 (Th1) response predominates, impairing Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) control, which exacerbates symptoms of depression, while after it, in summer, a Th2 response predominates in immunologically prone individuals, activating cortical and mesolimbic centers, which can exacerbate symptoms of psychosis. In this paper, we aim to describe the validity of this theory through a narrative review of data related to weather and immunology in psychiatry. This review extends existing literature by integrating immunological findings with psychiatric seasonality research, offering a mechanistic perspective that links Th1/Th2 shifts to specific symptom exacerbations. Winter Th1 severity may worsen depression and anxiety, while summer Th2 dominance appears to be associated with exacerbations of schizophrenia, mania, impulsivity, and suicide risk. It is possible that the mechanism of Th1 response potentiation and deterioration of PFC function is common to most psychiatric entities and is nonspecific. This suggests that seasonal immune dysregulation may play a broader role in psychiatric disorders than previously recognized, challenging the idea that seasonality impacts only selected conditions. Characteristic dysfunctions within an individual determine further differences in clinical manifestations. The mechanism of Th2 potentiation may not be limited to mania and psychosis but may also be associated with increased impulsivity and suicide risk. If the immunoseasonal theory is confirmed, selected immunological markers could be used not only in the diagnosis of psychiatric exacerbations but also in predicting symptom fluctuations and tailoring treatment strategies. This could enable more personalized interventions, such as seasonally adjusted medication dosing or targeted anti-inflammatory therapies. While this mechanism seems plausible, further research, especially analyzing markers of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses, is needed to better understand and confirm it.
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