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Mass hysteria: one syndrome or two?
A Ali-Gombe1, E Guthrie, N McDermott
1Department of Medicine, College of Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Summary
This study investigated mass hysteria in Nigerian school girls, finding that symptoms often blended features of both anxiety and motor subtypes. The findings suggest distinct syndromes may not fully capture the complexity of mass hysteria presentations.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Neurology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Mass hysteria may present as anxiety or motor syndromes.
- Anxiety-type: no prior tension, spreads via visual contact.
- Motor-type: prior tension, gradual spread, identifiable initial cases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the development and resolution of neurological symptoms in Nigerian school girls.
- To diagnose and characterize the observed outbreak as 'mass hysteria'.
Main Methods:
- Studied the neurological symptoms of 156 Nigerian school girls.
- Diagnosed the condition as 'mass hysteria' based on observed symptoms.
Main Results:
- The school girls exhibited symptoms characteristic of both anxiety-predominant and motor-predominant mass hysteria.
- The outbreak displayed overlapping features of the two proposed syndromes.
Conclusions:
- While two patterns of mass hysteria symptoms exist, discrete features often overlap.
- The overlap challenges the argument for two entirely separate syndromes of mass hysteria.