"El Nino" is Now in Vogue

The need to find a reason or cause for problems, stress or trauma is part of the human response process which seeks to explain, what to many people is "the unexplainable". Guilt, blame and external causes for stressful events are common-place. These days people refrain from burning witches at the stake when crops fail, however, some of the irrational attributes of misfortune persist.

A recent report in the Los Angeles Times says that "El Nino" is fast becoming a cause for a wide range of problems, not just those related to the weather. The "El Nino" Effect is a periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean which has the potential to alter weather patterns world-wide. Psychiatrist, Marc Feldman reports that changes in the weather have become a handy source of attribution for many people looking for some reason to explain the stress and trauma in their life. With "El Nino" getting publicity as the cause of unseasonal floods and tornados, some people extend the impact to their personal issues. Objectively, it's easy to see how blaming the weather is a simplistic and irrational explanation for complex situations, however, for many people the explanation fits, so they keep it.

Let's hope this trend doesn't become too popular in Australia and New Zealand. It's hard enough working with someone on a major guilt-trip, without having to deal with the atmospheric legacy of "El Nino" as well.