Mass Hysteria Research Articles

Psychogenic epidemic - mass hysteria phenomena in Portugal

IntroductionMass hysteria also called mass psychogenic illness (MPI), defined as a social phenomenon, consists of collective anxiety due to a perceived threat and can culminate in a cascade of symptoms suggestive of organic disease without an identifiable cause. Its history dates back to the 14th century and impacts people from all cultures and regions of the world. Before the 20thcentury, MPI emerged across Europe, often in socially isolated convents, in highly stressful environments.Objectives The aim of this study is to explore the available literature on mass hysteria phenomena in Portugal, historical origins, applications and eventual position in modern psychiatric semiology.MethodsNon-systematic review of literature published in Medline/Pubmed. Search terms included: mass hysteria, nocebo, groupthink, emotional contagion.Results In Portugal two great phenomena of mass hysteria were described. In 1917, the “sun miracle” occurred, where thousands of individuals reported having seen the sun rotating in the sky and changing its size and colours. Years later, more than 300 students from 14 schools described the same symptoms: dizziness, dyspnea and rash, without an identifiable cause. In common these young people had “sugar strawberries”. In May 2006, the young people in the television series were infected with a vírus, and clinical picture was similar to that presented by young people in real life. For the first time, a fictional illness on television triggered an illness in real life.ConclusionsMore studies should be carried out on these phenomena as their early recognition can have a tremendous impact on the ease of identification, diagnosis and treatment.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Affectivity, subjectivity, and vulnerability: on the new forces of mass hysteria.

Affect theory raises greater awareness of non-representational forces in social life that can shape different levels of subjectivity in ways that may not be immediately known to the subjects. In outbreaks of mass hysteria when subjects are suddenly exposed to bizarre and extreme behaviors, the question of affect becomes a key to understanding how their subjectivity is impacted by situations that seemingly slip immediate control. Hysterical subjectivity occurs not from unconscious forces but from affective contagions spreading throughout network assemblages. These are flows of fear and conflict that with non-conscious influences constitute the new forces of mass encounters. In these encounters, micro-flows of imitation are automatized by various assemblages of intention and action to produce repeatable contagions of affects and behaviors. The occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the power of these flows as facilitating a global affectivity of mass hysteria. It is an affectivity in which imitation takes on a central role as technology of the social for the behavioral control of mass populations. Ubiquitous mask-wearing in the pandemic is not only seen as a prophylactic against viral infection but also intended as a mandated form of mimicry for propagating the new politics of virality. These are politics that empower fear as an agent of cascading contagions paralyzing social, cultural, and economic life around the world.

Predictors of mass psychogenic illness in a junior secondary school in rural Botswana: A case control study.

BackgroundIn March 2019, students at Lempu Secondary School in Kweneng District, Botswana displayed symptoms including headache, abnormal leg movements and difficulty walking. Within days, 133 students were admitted to Scottish Livingstone Hospital where mass psychogenic illness (MPI) was diagnosed.AimTo identify predictors of this illness.SettingKweneng West District, Botswana.MethodsThis was a case control study using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Cases were students who displayed MPI symptoms from the 2nd of March to the time of the interviews or who were admitted with MPI diagnosis. Analysis was restricted to female students. Logistic regression was used to generate odds ratios. A p value of < 0.05 was considered to demonstrate significant association between variables.ResultsInterviews were conducted with 142 cases and 202 controls. The median age was 15 years. Most of the cases (95.8%) were boarding girls. Residence in school campus (AOR 13.2), history of evaluation by psychologist and/or social worker (AOR 2.6), history of traumatic events (AOR 1.8), contact with sick peers (AOR 2.3) and contact with spiritual healer (AOR 2.0) were independent predictors of MPI. Additionally, perception of adequate security in the dormitories (AOR 0.3) and perception of poor lighting (AOR 6.8) were significant predictors of MPI amongst boarding girls.ConclusionThe outbreak in Lempu Community Junior Secondary School (CJSS) was typical of mass psychogenic illness affecting mainly boarding girls and was associated with psychological and environmental risk factors. Changing the boarding environment and continuous psychological support are key to preventing future outbreaks. Interventions should also target the identified risk factors.

Werewolves and warning signs: Cultural responses to tropical cyclones in Mauritius

The role that culture plays in the way different groups experience, respond to, and recover from disasters has been widely discussed. Yet, while there is a considerable (and growing) literature of case study evidence for the need to account for culture in disasters, comparatively few studies take a long-term perspective on cultural interactions with disasters, resulting in a lack of exploration into the diachronic nature of these cultural responses, both past and present. The literature that does exist tends also to focus either on western cultures or on groups that pursue highly traditional livelihoods. Communities that call on elements of both local or vernacular knowledge and scientific or external knowledge are underrepresented.This article presents an examination of cultural responses to tropical cyclones on Mauritius Island in the South West Indian Ocean over the long-term. We combine historical archive and contemporary interview data to uncover an extensive history of cultural responses to cyclones in Mauritius, including revealing the use of local knowledge, early warning signs, and superstitions surrounding cyclones in early Mauritian history and today.Our research refutes the portrayal of isolated ‘episodes’ of cultural responses to cyclones, such as the reports of ‘mass hysteria’ following tropical cyclone Hollanda in February 1994, when a considerable proportion of Mauritians believed that a werewolf or loup garou was terrorising villagers. Whilst this experience has been portrayed – both at the time and currently – as an embarrassing and one-off incident, we show that this is rather part of a long pattern of cultural responses to tropical cyclones. Our results therefore have implications for how cyclones and disasters are understood and experienced.

Hype as a Factor on the Global Market: The Case of Bitcoin

The impact of Bitcoin-related Google queries, Facebook likes, reposts and comments on Bitcoin price is analyzed with the help of ARDL and GARCH models. Our results have led us to the following conclusions. Firstly, a sharp increase in Bitcoin’s popularity or hype, which manifested itself through a rise in the number of Bitcoin-related Google queries, has resulted in an increase in Bitcoin price. This effect corresponds to the description of the ‘collective hysteria’ that spread in the online community and was triggered by the increasing volatility of the Bitcoin market. Secondly, we found that Bitcoin’s popularity among ordinary Internet users has a positive impact in low-volatile and highly volatile rising markets but a negative one in a highly volatile falling market. Thirdly, Bitcoin’s popularity among informed Internet users has a negative impact on Bitcoin price in a period of low volatility. Fourthly, uninformed users’ trust in Bitcoin has a positive influence on Bitcoin price in low-volatile and highly volatile falling markets. Finally, the main factors that shape the Bitcoin market are trust and popularity.

Mass Hysteria among Beneficiary Students of the School-Feeding Program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mass hysteria is described as the rapid spread of conversion disorder without organic basis among a group of people. Mass hysteria can occur in work place and commonly in schools. There are usually some factors attributable to the episode; however, the lack of a pathogen upon investigation is a fundamental characteristic. We are reporting an episode of mass hysteria from two schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Clinical record, laboratory investigation, toxicology study from the food and psychiatric evaluations. On November 25, 2019 a total of 113 students were brought from two schools in Addis to Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Most were between the ages of 10 and 15 years and were female students. Their school breakfast of bread and marmalade was attributed as the cause of the episode; however only 49% of the students brought in had eaten the food. The majority complained of nausea and vomiting but most had normal physical finding; and their symptoms were resolved without treatment. The laboratory investigation on samples of blood and stool were negative for bacterial growth and food culture and toxicology were non-revealing. Most were reassured and few were given symptomatic treatment. This mass hysteric episode is similar to episodic reports from other school feeding programs in some Asian and African countries. The finding of this report is important for health care practitioners to consider mass psychogenic illness in case they face similar mass presentation without objective finding; and will help to avoid unnecessary costly investigations.

The tic in TikTok and (where) all systems go: Mass social media induced illness and Munchausen's by internet as explanatory models for social media associated abnormal illness behavior.

This paper explores the recent phenomenon of adolescents presenting en masse (both online and in clinical settings) with symptoms seemingly acquired from viewing illness-related content posted by social media influencers. The most frequently reproduced illnesses have included Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and Tourette Syndrome. It discusses evidence that the recent spate of new-onset, severe tics are a form of Mass Psychogenic Illness facilitated by social media networks (a phenomenon labeled Mass Social Media Induced Illness). It then suggests that many of those self-diagnosed with DID may be manifesting a similar, technologically-facilitated conversion phenomenon. It then explores another explanatory model: that these simulacra of DID and Tourette Syndrome may also arise via a mechanism more closely resembling social media facilitated Factitious Disorder. Similar presentations, of individuals falsifying cancer, have previously been labeled Munchausen's by Internet. It then proposes an overarching construct, Social Media Associated Abnormal Illness Behavior (SMAAIB), that is agnostic regarding phenomenology. Within this framework, it explores the ways in which de-commodifying attention, connection and care (measured once in appointments and admissions, now in 'likes' and 'shares') and obtaining a full picture of the patient's psychological, sociological and cultural grounding can offer deeper understanding and ultimately a path to wellness.

Unexpectedly low Incidence of COVID-19 among Refugees of War from Ukraine to Slovakia in First Month of Conflict (Original Research)

Several armed conflicts and military troop interventions have been associated with minor pandemics, however, not always, and with the extent varied. e.g. during the most catastrophic loss of lives in the Bosnian Conflict in 1993-95 where 160,000 civilians and soldiers fell into mass graves, only one small epidemic of Hepatitis A was reported to the European branch of WHO. In contrast, epidemics of cholera in Haiti, not related to war but associated with troop deployment (UN battalion from Nepal) in 2014, led to a devastating epidemic of cholera in the Artibonite River District with 1,000s of deaths. The same was reported during civil war and genocide in Rwanda in 1988-98 where hundreds died, and refugees of war-related exodus from Rwanda to the DRC in Goma. Finally, pipeline and water supply devastation during war in Yemen, led to the largest cholera outbreak in Yemen (1-3). Therefore, fear of epidemics, especially during COVID-19 Omicron wave is of concern mainly when the numbers of positive cases in Austria and other EU countries are increasing. The aim of this study was to report the results of COVID-19 antigen testing in those escaping from war in Ukraine.

Psychological effects before, during and after Hurricane Maria

Since vulnerability is not recognized, the issue of mental health in Puerto Rico is something that is invisible on the island. The objective of this research is to recognize the negative psychological effects caused by the passage of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The data collection was carried out through nine semi-structured interviews, with Puerto Ricans between the ages of twenty to seventy-five years of age, the majority being college students. The experiences of each of the interviewees regarding their life before, during and after Hurricane Maria were investigated. The results of this research showed that the greatest impact, in terms of mental health, was during the months after the hurricane. As mentioned by most of the participants, the despair of seeing that nothing returned to normal and that necessities—drinking water, electricity, food, etc.—were scarce, created a mass hysteria and great trauma. Puerto Ricans have not yet overcome the adversities that Hurricane Maria brought. During the investigation, we were able to observe how there are still people who have not recovered mentally or psychologically after this natural disaster. According to our observations, there are many people in need of professional psychological help, which is not recognized, as seeking such help is taboo. Therefore, it is time to act and start working on this situation.

Excavating Memory: Bilge Karasu's Istanbul and Walter Benjamin's Berlin

Excavating Memory: Bilge Karasu's Istanbul and Walter Benjamin's Berlin

Microbic Mass Destruction - Biological Warfare and Epidemic Prevention in Republican China

In the first half of the twentieth century, the possibility of weaponizing bacteria and waging a biological war became a frequently discussed topic in Europe, America, and Asia. This article traces the discourse on bacteriological warfare (xijunzhan) before, during, and in the aftermath of the Second Sino-Japanese War and puts it in the historical context of the development of biomedical sciences, epidemic prevention, and governance in Republican China. The discussion of biowarfare might be understood as an expression of both the skepticism about the scientization as well as technologization of warfare and the fear of epidemics ravaging China at the time. Considering the prevalence of epidemics in China during the first half of the twentieth century, the horror scenario of biological warfare did not necessarily lead to the direct expansion of or change in actual anti-epidemic measures during the Republican era. However, the very possibility of bacteriological attacks increased the sensitivity and knowledge of decision makers, military personnel, and large parts of the population regarding the threat of infectious disease and epidemics. The dread of enemies dropping vessels filled with disease vectors helped to justify the promulgation and implementation of hygiene protocols, vaccine campaigns, and microbiological knowledge.

The cleanliness of otherness: epidemics, informal urbanization and urban degeneration in early twentieth-century Madrid

ABSTRACT In the first few decades of the twentieth century, makeshift shelters known as chozas grew in Madrid. Using historical monographs and the press as main sources, in this article we discuss the influence of medical thinking on the problematisation and eradication of this form of urban growth. During the nineteenth century, scientific racism identified poor housing areas as a source of disease and immorality, yet the public powers in Madrid tolerated and overlooked the development of these spaces until the early twentieth century. It was only when the fear of epidemics and warnings from the press became too great that the authorities began to implement various high-profile ‘sanitary campaigns’ to destroy the shacks. Although these initiatives did not solve the sanitation problems because the deprived populations frequently constructed new living areas, the continued efforts of the public authorities succeeded in displacing the shantytowns to the less regulated periphery. Whilst the spaces were transformed, the representations that signalled them as pathological spaces seems to have remained. Research on the historical eradication of urban ‘otherness’ allows us to discuss the legacy of the medical theories that supported it and the influence of this on current prejudices regarding disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

The Passing Pandemic? Perspective and Projections for COVID-19

Impact of Pandemic on Realms of Human Life: It is hard to imagine a worse pandemic than COVID-19 which has affected not only health but every realm of human life, being the most disruptive pandemic in modern times.In fact, the pandemic seems like a singular, once-in-a-lifetime event, and ongoing with no definite end in sight. As such, greater protective measures are needed to fight off the highly contagious variants and develop more effective therapeutic modalities to improve the disease outcomes. Research, Rationality and Mass Hysteria: Fundamentally, the viruses outnumber all the members of animal and plant kingdom including bacteria. The public-health measures are age-old and general rather than specific and aimed initially at stemming the tide of the novel virus and have been applied including avoiding close and non-ventilated spaces. COVID-19 is not the deadliest pandemic, HIV has killed more people than SARS-CoV-2, yet the pandemic is accompanied by a mass hysteria. The Mutagenesis and Emerging Variants: SARS-CoV-2 has a steady rate of mutations and accumulates mutations over time. The evolving variants affect the transmissibility, disease severity, immune response, and resultant immunity. The emerging variants have either replaced the previous ones or de-escalated depending on their properties. A number of variants are associated with immune escape. The variants pose a challenge for preventive measures including the vaccination and therapeutics. Omicron: Priming for Immunity or Disaster: The omicron variant (B.1.1.529) was first reported from African continent and later spread to various geographical regions. It has been held a benign variant with an increased transmissibility, reduced disease severity, and ability to generate a potent immunity. As a matter of caution, the fast-spreading Omicron sand its subvariant, BA.2 with their unexplored impact on immune system may be priming the population groups for infection with deadlier variants. Conclusion: Dealing With the Challenges: For COVID-19, the immunity following infection or vaccination is variable and short-lived, as it declines over time. Presently, with evolving variants including Omicron and BA.2 and recurrent outbreaks, the challenge posed by the pandemic is not over. In fact, the end of the pandemic is not a discrete event like conclusion of a war but a gradual process in which with herd immunity and the virus becoming less morbid and lethal, the disease deescalates to endemic form.

Pamćenje spornih legata prošlosti ili kad kultura sećanja ustukne pred kulturom poništavanja

Everyday life is filled with numerous images of what has passed. All of them, although on different bases, leave a mark in time and thus become legacies of the past. Although we usually understand and accept this inherited corpus without a problem, sometimes we face certain inconveniences. For example, we would rather forget the heritage that remind us of colonialism and slavery, civil conflicts, wars, nuclear catastrophes. This paper searches for answers as to why certain contents from the past survive and others disappear, as well as when and why we decide to change their interpretation. Namely, the development of information technologies and new models of communication, in addition to many advantages, has contributed to the development of a perhaps not new, but certainly more striking culture of thinking. Based on condemnation, denial, harsh criticism without the possibility of adequate defence, the cancel culture is present in almost all spheres of everyday life. "Concern" for the culture of memory thus has reached a new level. Although the ban on specific forms of artistic expression has a long history, today we are witnessing the formation of movements that fight by all means for various types of censorship, and interestingly, they are no longer instructed by governing structures, but come from culture, science, and art. Justifying these actions with pedagogical reasons, correcting injustices, and caring for the culture of remembrance, unpleasant and politically incorrect contents are avoided, exhibitions are cancelled, monuments are occupied, modified, destroyed. The contribution of once famous artists and scientists is being revised and challenged. This raises a number of questions. What ideas inspire such iconoclastic actions? Who are the actors involved in these practices? When diversity became a problem, where did the dialogue go? What are the spatial, social and political implications of these transformations? In the circumstances of such rapid social changes and (re)interpretation, it is increasingly difficult to remain calm and objective even in science. The general chase, and sometimes the mass hysteria, help us to easily slip into revisionism. Instead of focusing on the possibilities that different values of the legacies of the past open to us, it seems that we are moving towards the fact that every heritage, sooner or later, will be disputable.

The Resurrection of Jesus: An Engagement with Dale Allison: A Review Essay

In his latest book, The Resurrection of Jesus, Dale Allison states that, while he personally believes that Jesus resurrected, “the purely historical evidence is not, on my view, so good as to make disbelief unreasonable, and it is not so bad as to make faith untenable.” This review focuses on Allison’s discussion concerning apparitions, hallucination theory, mass hysteria, and pareidolia. While appreciative of various aspects of Allison’s work, this article points out various problems with Allison’s use of materials in other disciplines, a number of fallacies of reasoning in Allison’s analyses, and demonstrates that the best skeptical hypothesis against Jesus’s resurrection suggested by Allison is untenable.

К источникам мотива массового психоза в романе М.А. Булгакова «Мастер и Маргарита»

The aim of the work is to analyze the motive of mass psychosis in the novel “Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov. It is relevant nowadays, when the tendency of close study of madness motive in the writer's works as a particular case of madness motive in Russian literature is outlined in literary criticism. The subject of the research is the consideration of this motive as a technique of parody, creating a unique satirical palette of the sociopolitical life of the country in the era of 1920–1930. Therefore, the methodology of the article includes, along with traditional historical, cultural and mythopoetic approaches, a psychographic commentary. As a result, sources from various humanitarian spheres of human activity are involved in the analysis: fiction, historiography, cultural studies, religion, and psychiatry. Among them: a methodological guide to organizing mass singing “Mass Feasts” (1927) by E.F. Ryumin, , the history of burials in the Vagankovo Cemetery “Men of the Forties” (1869), the novel by A.F. Pisemsky and the related ideology of early twentieth-century literary movements (Symbolism and Proletkult), I.S. Lukash’s emigrant novel “Devil” (1922), a journal version of N. Ognev’s (M. G. Rozanov) novel “Diary of Kostya Ryabtsev” (1926–1928), work by English religion historian D. Robertson “Primordial Christianity” (Russian translation 1930), and N. Kalashnikov’s essay “The Count Cagliostro, the Sorcerer of the Last Century” (1893). Particular emphasis is placed on the psychiatric practice of subduing violent patients. It is concluded that to recreate the motive of mass hysteria Bulgakov’s parody goes from high to low, from laughter to a stamp of horror on the face.

Mass hysteria attack rates in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis.

ObjectivesThere are few systematic assessments of mass hysteria (MH) attack rates (ARs) in adolescents and children. The study aim was to assess the ARs of MH in this population.MethodsWe used a meta-analysis to systematically review studies and assess ARs.ResultsThe reviewed studies included 32,887 participants, of which 2968 were children and adolescents with a history of MH. Twenty-eight studies were included, of which 22 (78.6%) had high to moderate methodological quality. The pooled AR of MH was 9.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.3, 14.0). Of MH studies between 2010 and 2020, 78.6% were conducted between 2010 and 2014. ARs were higher between 2010 and 2014 (10.3%) than between 2015 and 2020 (8.1%). Regarding population characteristics, the AR in girls was 2.43 (95% CI 1.70, 3.46) times higher than in boys. Most studies were on primary school students (46.4%), who showed the highest AR (15.4%). Of six trigger factors, water pollution showed the highest AR (16.3%). ARs were higher in rural areas (11.1%) than in urban areas (5.6%).ConclusionsMH in children and adolescents seems prevalent and shows some epidemiological characteristics. These findings may assist governments to control and prevent MH epidemics among children and adolescents.

The memory of an outrageous public health scandal

Introduction: Manaus is an isolated city, localized in the hearth of the Amazonas rainforest, with two million inhabitants, a big territorial extension, distant from neighbor cities and next to the shores of Negro and Solimões rivers. The access overland is difficult, which obligates the oxygen tanks be transported by river or air. This created and enormous logistical problem, added to the neglect of the Federal Government with the northern region of the country. Objective: Analyze what are the psychiatric repercussions on the explosion of in the lack of oxygen in Manaus, capital of the Amazonas, Brazil. Methods: Studies were identified using large-circulation international journals. Results: A scandal is happening. This situation is creating a grief community – particular grief became a common and public one – to the memory of an outrageous public health scandal. Therefore, dramatic stories of families of patients and the overwhelmed healthcare professionals shared on the social media and local press brings glimpses of the angst of this chaos. An entire wing of patients died caused by the oxygen depletion. Conclusion: This situation is causing a collective hysteria, taking healthcare workers and families of patients to desperation. Fear appears to be a consequence of the feeling of powerlessness. Anxiety levels are really elevated causing direct side effects to another mental health measures.

COVID-19 Pandemic: A Consequential Global Hazard to Public Mental Health

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 infection in humans first reported in Wuhan (China) which has spread around the world and having a significant impact on global health and mental health. It has caused widespread psychosocial and behavioural changes as a result of mass hysteria, economic burden, and financial losses, in addition to its high infectivity and the increased mortality rates. &#x0D; Method: Published articles regarding to mental health related to the COVID-19 outbreak and other previous global infections have been considered and reviewed.&#x0D; Comments: The pervasive fear of COVID-19, named as "coronaphobia," has resulted with a slew of psychiatric manifestations in people from all walks of life. It has affected people from all the point of life, resulting in a variety of psychiatric issues such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fear and uncertainty, panic attacks, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, xenophobia, and racism. Collective concerns have an impact on daily behaviours, the economy, prevention strategies, and decision-making by policymakers, health organisations, and medical centres, which can weaken COVID-19 control strategies and lead to increased morbidity and mental health needs on a global level.

ADVERSE IMPACT OF LOCKDOWN ON INDIAN SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BEHAVIOUR-A REVIEW

Due to high infectivity and death rates, the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease has caused worldwide social and psychologicalimpact by causing mass hysteria, economic burden, and feelings of aloneness during illness and financial losses. Studies have identified“coronaphobia” as a byproduct of the pandemic, where people have an extreme terror of contracting the virus. Mass fear of COVID-19 hascreated an overabundance of psychiatric manifestations across almost all strata of society. In this review, the psycho-social impacts ofCOVID-19 have been studied. As a data source Pubmed and Google Scholar are searched with the following key terms- “COVID-19 andsocial impact,” “SARS-CoV2 and social effects,” “social impact of current Pandemic,” “Psychological impact of COVID-19,” “Psycho-socialeffects and Coronavirus.” Many current published data and news were extracted that provide significant data. Our study revealed thatnationwide lockdowns and forced quarantine to fight against COVID-19 had produced acute panic, anxiety, obsessive behaviors, domesticabuse, hoarding, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and food insecurity, including marked impairment in daily lifefunctioning. The psycho-social aspects of older people, their caregivers, psychiatric patients and marginalized communities are badlyaffected in different ways and need special attention. From the present work, it can be concluded that there is an urgent need to find outeffective ways to treat people and bring them out of fear and stress. As these symptoms are seen in large population sizes, we also need tostudy the long-term effects of these adverse effects on the mass level.