While the Secret Service may be best known for protecting government officials, its latest mission involves investigating violence in the workplace. In a nation where this type of violence is commonplace, a new report from the agency hopes to help prevent future incidents.

‘Noteworthy life stressors’
The “Preventing Targeted Workplace Violence” report attempts to identify patterns or similar behaviors among perpetrators of workplace attacks. It begins by “examining 50 incidents of mass violence” in which “128 people were injured and 119 were killed,” said the report. Nearly all of the perpetrators, 47 out of the 50, experienced “noteworthy life stressors within five years of their attack,” including personal problems, financial hardships and employment-related issues.

Many of the perpetrators had a criminal history. Among the 16 employees who were actively employed at the place they attacked, over 40% of them had a “history of domestic violence,” and when including all 50 of the studied attacks, that number “goes up to 53%,” Lina Alathari, the head of the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center, said to ABC News. Many of the attackers also had prior criminal charges, including some who “engaged in violence directed at romantic partners or relatives, prompting victims to seek protective orders or restraining orders,” said the report.

‘Behavioral security’
This initiative’s ultimate goal is to “look at how we can prevent targeted workplace violence,” said Alathari to NBC News. “What’s the thinking, behavior and circumstances of workplace attackers?” Many workplaces can identify warning signs early and potentially stop a tragedy by “empowering those who may be experiencing stalking, harassing” or “threats from romantic partners or other relatives to feel connected enough to come forward and ask for help.”

The best thing employers can do is not ignore these signs. Don’t “wait until a direct threat is made,” said former Secret Service agent Michael Matranga to NewsNation. This doesn’t mean “questioning workers about their private lives” but rather working with human resources departments to “build behavioral security into their policies.” If employers “don’t have a healthy workforce, then you end up with these particular types of tragic events.”

A possible new subtype of depression caused by people’s “body clocks being out of whack” has been identified by University of Sydney researchers, said New Scientist. Affecting an estimated one in four people with severe depression, circadian depression responds less readily to treatment with standard antidepressants such as SSRIs.

What is it?
Circadian depression is “characterized by disrupted sleep, low energy and reduced physical activity during the day,” said Nature. Circadian depression appears to be linked to dysregulation in the body’s internal clock and seems to affect women more than men. Although seasonality can aggravate symptoms, it doesn’t necessarily trigger them, as happens with seasonal affective disorder.

Researchers asked 11,380 people with severe depression about their symptoms and sleep patterns. Nearly a quarter (23%) met at least three of six proposed criteria for circadian depression, which include identifying as a night owl and experiencing significant seasonal changes in sleep, mood, appetite or energy. This correlation is evidence of a “suggested subtype,” said The New York Times.

How can it be treated?
What’s “critical” about this circadian type of depression is its “poor response to the standard therapies,” said psychiatrist and study co-author Ian Hickie to The Guardian. Sufferers could benefit instead from treatments, such as melatonin or light therapy, that specifically target the body’s circadian rhythms. The coordination of your body clock “underpins your mood, your metabolism, your concentration, your sleep-wake cycle and many other key factors.” Exposure to daylight in the morning and avoiding artificial light, large meals and exercise after dark can help keep body clocks on track.

What are the caveats?
Circadian depression is a “plausible” condition, said chronotherapy expert Michael Terman to The New York Times. But the study findings don’t establish a new diagnosis or prove that circadian depression responds to different types of treatment.

A major limitation of the study, acknowledged by its authors, is that participants’ sleep-wake cycles were self-reported. Also, participants were mostly of European ancestry, so more diverse studies are needed to replicate the findings.

A pedestrian walks past “The Students,” a sculpture by South Korean artist Shin Min, at the Bangkok Art Biennale. The “Angels & Mara” exhibition references the Thai capital’s nickname, City of Angels, and Mara, the “Buddhist personification of temptation and fear,” said Artforum, and centers on the “tension between the honorable and the immoral.”
Rungroj Yongrit / EPA / Shutterstock

That crisp fall weather is coming, and indoor reading’s coziness beckons. This month brings a fresh batch of must-reads, including an autobiographical tour of LeVar Burton’s career and a timely debut that touches on racism and xenophobia.

‘Stations’
Louise Kennedy’s sophomore novel, “Stations,” follows the relationship between Róisín McCaffrey and Red Camelin. Their love is “doomed,” yet it’s one Róisín never lets go of during the 25 years the novel spans, said The Boston Globe. Kennedy has earned a spot alongside “contemporary Irish greats.” (out now, $28, Random House)

‘The Misogynists: A Reckoning with Modern Art’
Art historian Allison Leigh pulls the curtain back on how misogyny shaped the modern art world. The book’s “deeply researched cultural history” of the careers of “six art world giants” reveals how toxic they were to women, said Lit Hub. (Nov. 10, $35, Abrams)

‘The Squatters’
Saba Brelvi’s promising debut “touches on multiple hot-button topics,” including “migration, refugee resettlement, racism, xenophobia, wealth inequality” and what we owe as a society to the “least among us,” said The AV Club. It tells of an American expat living just outside London who faces a predicament when helping asylum seekers goes wrong. (Nov. 10, $29, The Dial Press)

‘Take My Word for It: A Memoir’
LeVar Burton takes readers through the decades of his award-winning screen career. The book centers on three pivotal moments in Burton’s life and also discusses mental illness and “why he has become a literacy activist,” said The New York Times. (Nov. 10, $32, Random House)