| 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 throat |
| Duration | For most cases, under 12 hours to days |
| Risk factors | Childhood or adolescence, female sex, intense media coverage |
| Differential diagnosis | Actual diseases (e.g., infectious diseases, environmental toxins or exposures), somatic symptom disorder |
| Treatment | Usually isolation or separation from perceived threat |
| Prognosis | Most recover |
Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for contagion.[1] It is the rapid spread of illness signs and symptoms affecting members of a cohesive group, originating from a nervous system disturbance involving excitation, loss, or alteration of function, whereby physical complaints that are exhibited unconsciously have no corresponding organic causes that are known.[2]
- ^ Kelly, J.R.; Iannone, R.E.; McCarty, M.K. (2014). "The function of shared affect in groups". In von Scheve, Christian; Salmella, Mikko (eds.). Collective Emotions. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-965918-0. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
- ^ Bartholomew, Robert; Wessely, Simon (2002). "Protean nature of mass sociogenic illness" (PDF). The British Journal of Psychiatry. 180 (4): 300–306. doi:10.1192/bjp.180.4.300. PMID 11925351. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2018-10-10.