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Mass psychogenic illness; Other names: Mass hysteria, epidemic hysteria, mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder: Painting of Dancing plagues of the Middle Ages are thought to have been caused by mass hysteria. Specialty: Psychiatry, clinical psychology: Symptoms: Headache, dizziness, nausea, abdominal pain, cough, fatigue, sore ...
Due to the determination of collective stress as the cause, medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew favors the neutral term mass psychogenic illness over mass hysteria. This is because people respond more favorably to a diagnosis of stress induced symptoms than to a diagnosis of mass hysteria.
Mass psychogenic illness is the spontaneous manifestation of the same or similar hysterical physical symptoms by more than one person. A common manifestation occurs when a group of people believe they are experiencing a similar disease or ailment, sometimes referred to as epidemic hysteria.
But Hysterical suggests not only that mass psychogenic illness is likely the right diagnosis but also that it sometimes takes shape in ways that most—especially those caught in its grips ...
Classified as a "conversion disorder" by the DSM-IV, a psychogenic disease is a condition in which mental stressors cause physical symptoms matching other disorders. The manifestation of physical symptoms without biologically identifiable cause results from disruptions in normal brain function due to psychological stress.
The June bug epidemic serves as a classic example of hysterical contagion. In 1962 a mysterious disease broke out in a dressmaking department of a US textile factory. The symptoms included numbness, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. Word of a bug in the factory that would bite its victims and cause them to develop the above symptoms quickly ...
The Tanganyika laughter epidemic of 1962 was an outbreak of mass hysteria—or mass psychogenic illness (MPI)—rumored to have occurred in or near the village of Kashasha on the western coast of Lake Victoria in Tanganyika (which, once united with Zanzibar, became the modern nation of Tanzania) near the border with Uganda.
Ben Tarver, 29, began having seizures and panic attacks in September before exhibiting symptoms of paranoia. By the middle of October, he was diagnosed with Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis, a rare ...