Anthropologic aspects of occupational illness epidemics

The anthropologic distinction between disease and illness is used to give insight into the nature of certain medically puzzling occupational epidemics, including mass psychogenic illness. Four representative epidemics from America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific are described. Illness is a phenomenon socially defined by a group and these epidemics of illness are hypothesized to be a form of group protest about the work circumstances comparable to possession states. Some of the implications for resolving these epidemics by physicians and others are discussed.