Dear Colleagues,

For practitioners and researchers of mood and anxiety disorders and suicidal behavior, the environment is mainly understood as the psychosocial adverse environment of childhood, including separation, abuse, and neglect. Few are familiar with the recent progress in the predictive associations of broad and widespread exposure to physical factors (such as light, dark, temperature, negative ions, and mechanical trauma), chemical factors (odorants, ozone), and biological factors (such as pathogens, saprophytic bacteria, and allergens) and mood and anxiety disorders and suicidal behavior. These factors may have a very potent effect on vulnerable individuals, and could be benefic or maleficent in their effect depending on dosage, timing of exposure, repetitive exposure, multiplicity, and sequence of exposure. Exposure may occur at home, at work, or at school and may affect health and performance in occupational, academic, and athletic domains. In this Special Issue, we will present common links between mood and anxiety disorders and exposure to light and dark under conditions of shift-work and jet lag, seasonal alternations in light, bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens in the gut and oral microbiome, common immune-mediated conditions, such as autoimmune disease and allergy, allergen exposure, and chronic latent infections. The intent is to facilitate a better understanding of the importance of the Natural Environment—understood as the Evolutionary Environment that selected our ancestors—and the Contemporaneous environment of the macro and microclimates of home, work, and education. We will also point towards future environmental effects related to global warming and interplanetary travel. Prevention of exposure, as well as health-promoting environments and portable benefic environmental factors, will be emphasized. A specific chapter will be dedicated to environmental factors in suicidal behavior together with prevention, prognosis, and the identification of new treatment targets.

Prof. Dr. Teodor T. Postolache
Guest Editor

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• major depression
• bipolar disorder
• mood disorders
• seasonal affective disorder
• generalized anxiety disorders
• panic disorders
• jet-lag
• shift work
• circadian rhythm sleep disorder
• allergy
• aeroallergen
• pollen
• infection
• antimicrobial agents
• heat
• cold
• humidity
• negative ions
• traumatic brain injury
• lipopolysaccharide (LPS)
• suicidal behavior
• suicide
• impulsivity
• aggression