- Mass hysteria
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Mass hysteria—other names include collective hysteria, group hysteria, or collective obsessional behavior—is the manifestation of the same or similar hysterical symptoms by more than one person.[1][2] A common manifestation of mass hysteria occurs when a group of people believe they are suffering from a similar disease or ailment.[3] sometimes referred to as Mass Psychogenic Illness or epidemic hysteria.
Contents
Characteristics
Mass hysteria presenting as collective symptoms of disease is sometimes referred to as Mass Psychogenic Illness or epidemic hysteria. Mass hysteria typically begins when an individual becomes ill or hysterical during a period of stress.[4] After this initial individual shows symptoms, others begin to manifest similar symptoms, typically nausea, muscle weakness, fits or headache.[5]
Sightings of modern religious miracles are often attributed to mass hysteria.[3]
Specific examples
In 2007 near Chalco, a working-class suburb of Mexico City, mass hysteria resulted in a massive outbreak of unusual symptoms suffered by adolescent female students at Children's Village School, a Catholic boarding-school.[6][7] The afflicted students had difficulty walking and were feverish and nauseated.
In 2008 in Tanzania, about 20 female school pupils began to faint in a schoolroom, collapsing to the floor and losing consciousness, while others after witnessing this sobbed, yelled and ran around the school. A local education officer was quoted in news reports saying that such events are "very common here".[2]
In 2009 in Fort Worth, Texas, 34 people were sent to the hospital after they complained about having symptoms when they mistakenly thought they had been exposed to carbon monoxide.[8]
See also
- Bandwagon effect
- Collective behavior
- Collective effervescence
- Conversion syndrome
- Crowd psychology
- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay
- Folie à deux
- Group behaviour
- Herd behavior
- Hysterical contagion
- Mean world syndrome
- Moral panic
- Witch-hunt
- Dancing mania (e.g. Dancing Plague of 1518)
- Dennō Senshi Porygon
- Fan death
- The Gorbals Vampire
- Halifax Slasher
- London Monster
- Mad Gasser of Mattoon
- Morangos com Açúcar
- New Delhi monkeyman
- Penis panic
- Salem witch trials
- Satanic Ritual Abuse
- Spring Heeled Jack
- Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic
- The War of The Worlds, a radio broadcast that allegedly caused mass hysteria
- Villejuif leaflet, mass panic after false rumours of carcinogens in common foods
- Day care sex abuse hysteria
- Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic
References
- ^ Bartholomew, Robert E.; Wessely, Simon (2002). "Protean nature of mass sociogenic illness: From possessed nuns to chemical and biological terrorism fears". British Journal of Psychiatry (Royal College of Psychiatrists) 180 (4): 300–306. doi:10.1192/bjp.180.4.300. PMID 11925351. http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/180/4/300. "Mass sociogenic illness mirrors prominent social concerns, changing in relation to context and circumstance. Prior to 1900, reports are dominated by episodes of motor symptoms typified by dissociation, histrionics and psychomotor agitation incubated in an environment of preexisting tension. Twentieth-century reports feature anxiety symptoms that are triggered by sudden exposure to an anxiety-generating agent, most commonly an innocuous odour or food poisoning rumours. From the early 1980s to the present there has been an increasing presence of chemical and biological terrorism themes, climaxing in a sudden shift since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA."
- ^ a b Waller, John (18 September 2008). "Falling down". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/sep/18/psychology. "The recent outbreak of fainting in a school in Tanzania bears all the hallmarks of mass hysteria, says John Waller. But what causes it and why is it still happening around the world today?"
- ^ a b Mass Delusions and Hysterias / Highlights from the Past Millennium (Skeptical Inquirer May 2000)
- ^ Doubts raised over Melbourne airport scare. 27/04/2005. ABC News Online
- ^ ACSH > Health Issues >
- ^ Malkin, Elisabeth (April 16, 2007). "Mysterious illness strikes teenage girls in Mexico". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/world/americas/16iht-mexico.3.5306132.html. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
- ^ Zavala, Nashyiela Loa (2010). "The expulsion of evil and its return: An unconscious fantasy associated with a case of mass hysteria in adolescents". International Journal of Psychoanalysis 91 (5): 1157–1178. doi:10.1111/j.1745-8315.2010.00322.x. PMID 20955250.
- ^ Perfume sets off events in Fort Worth that put 34 in hospitals, Star-Telegram, July 29, 2009
External links
Categories:- Mass hysteria
- Group processes
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