TIME
A man in Chicago spent hours shoveling snow to make a parking space, but when he returned to the spot with his car, he discovered that a woman had just parked there. Angry words, a scuffle, gunfire. The woman was shot to death.
That was the most violent sign to date of a common syndrome in the Midwest these days. Psychiatrists have a time-honored name for it: cabin fever. Many snowed-under Midwesterners are “behaving like irritable children,” says Northwestern University Psychiatrist Harold Visotsky. Adds University of Illinois Psychologist Christopher Keys: “Family groups feel more crowded. People who live alone feel their loneliness intensified. The cards are stacked against everyone.”
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Introducing the 2024 TIME100 Next
- Sabrina Carpenter Has Waited Her Whole Life for This
- What Lies Ahead for the Middle East
- Why It's So Hard to Quit Vaping
- Jeremy Strong on Taking a Risk With a New Film About Trump
- Our Guide to Voting in the 2024 Election
- The 10 Races That Will Determine Control of the Senate
- Column: How My Shame Became My Strength
Contact us at letters@time.com