Pelerornek is the Inuit word for the madness that occasionally seizes people from the Far North in winter. The word is described by the polar scientist Barry Lopez. After long hours of winter darkness, a person will suddenly be driven over the edge and will rush out into the snow, angry, deranged, shouting loudly and out of control. Because the malaise is recognised, the family or clan of the afflicted person will behave with great sensitivity and tenderness to the victim. Rather than treating them as a mad person and shutting them away, Lopez describes the Eskimos as treating the person with caring and compassion. This struck me as inspiring, and perhaps something that our own society could use as a model.