First published in 1982. This study looks at the concepts around mass hysteria or anxiety due to an illness episode that defies physical explanations and where investigators may turn to a psychological interpretation of an outbreak. The present book brings together scientists from several disciplines in an attempt to to explore outbreaks from a variety of perspectives, including historical, cultural, social, psychological, and even medical.

It is one of the most extraordinary cases in the history of science: the mating calls of insects were mistaken for a “sonic weapon” that led to a major diplomatic row. Since August 2017, the world media has been absorbed in the “attack” on diplomats from the American and Canadian Embassies in Cuba. While physicians treating victims have described it as a novel and perplexing condition that involves an array of complaints including brain damage, the authors present compelling evidence that mass psychogenic illness was the cause of “Havana Syndrome.” This mysterious condition that has baffled experts is explored across 11-chapters which offer insights by a prominent neurologist and an expert on psychogenic illness. A lively and enthralling read, the authors explore the history of similar scares from the 18th century belief that sounds from certain musical instruments were harmful to human health, to 19th century cases of “telephone shock,” and more contemporary panics involving people living near wind turbines that have been tied to a variety of health complaints. The authors provide dozens of examples of kindred episodes of mass hysteria throughout history, in addition to psychosomatic conditions and even the role of insects in triggering outbreaks. Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria is a scientific detective story and a case study in the social construction of mass psychogenic illness.

"For a two week period in 1956, residents in the vicinity of Taipei, Taiwan, lived in fear that they would be the next victims of a crazed villain who was prowling the streets and slashing people at random with a razor or similar weapon. At least 21 victims were reported during this period, mostly women and children of low income and education." A thorough investigation revealed however, that: "five slashings were innocent false reports, seven were self-inflicted cuts, eight were due to cuts rather than razors, and one was complete fantasy." This is one example of many cases of what has traditionally been called "mass hysteria" that are examined in this comprehensive study of human beings' fear of the unknown. Beginning with a concise history of mass hysteria and social delusions, the author differentiates between the two and investigates mass hysteria in closed settings such as work and school, and mass hysteria in communities with incidents such as gassings, Pokemon illnesses in Japan, and medieval dance crazes. Also examined are collective delusions, with information on five major types: immediate threat, symbolic scare, mass wish fulfillment, urban legends and mass panics. The book ends with a discussion of major issues in the area of mass hysteria and a look toward the future of this intriguing subject.

This book presents a decade of advances in the psychological, biological and social responses to disasters, helping medics and leaders prepare and react.

This book comprehensively surveys the colorful history of mass hysteria and kindred phenomena in schools, documenting outbreaks of demonic possession during witchcraft scares, to modern incidents of collapsing bands, itching frenzies, ghost panics and mystery illnesses. Strange behaviors and illnesses in students are examined through the centuries. Possessed children went into trance states and began to bark like dogs in 16th and 17th century Holland; an epidemic of twitching, trembling and blackout spells swept through European schools during the latter 1800s; an outbreak of Tourette's-like symptoms struck schoolgirls in western New York in 2011-12. In addition to the US and Europe, separate chapters detail accounts from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania. A variety of theories to explain outbreaks are examined.

It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease, than what sort of disease a patient has. William Osler Suzanne O'Sullivan is a neurologist, who looks after people with brain diseases. She is also fascinated by psychosomatic disorders - seizures, paralysis, blindness - disabilities that originate more in the mind than in the structure of the brain. Hysteria by another name. Medical conditions that people find so shameful that they often exist below the radar. Or they are given labels that make them more acceptable or more difficult to spot. Some believe that hysteria is rare. Any neurologist will tell you it isn’t. They see a form of it in every clinic, on every working day. For those like O'Sullivan, who are drawn to it, sightings are not restricted to the clinic. It is everywhere. And this is how she learned about Andrei, and the 424 other children in Sweden like him, children who have fallen into a state of apathy, a waking coma, some for months, some for years. But why? The Sleeping Beauties is the story of these children in Sweden but it is also an exploration of different aspects of psychosomatic disorders, mass hysteria, culture bound syndromes and the idioms of distress. Culture bound syndromes are a set of symptoms that exist only within a particular society. Windigo is a condition that affects Native Americans. It manifests as a fear that the sufferer has turned into a cannibal. Koro, an intense anxiety that the penis will recede into the body, is seen almost exclusively in Malaysia. Susto is prevalent in Latinos who live in the States. Triggered by traumatic events the symptoms include anorexia, nervousness, insomnia and diarrhea. There are over two hundred culture bound syndromes. They are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as rare psychiatric conditions. However within the societies in which they exist they are more likely to be regarded as folk illnesses. They are culturally acceptable ways to express distress. Two questions arise. Who defines psychiatric illness and what shapes the manner in which distress is communicated within a society? Reminiscent of the work of Oliver Sacks, Stephen Grosz and Henry Marsh, this is a remarkable scientific investigation with a very human face.

Why do some men become convinced—despite what doctors tell them—that their penises have, simply, disappeared. Why do people across the world become convinced that they are cursed to die on a particular date—and then do? Why do people in Malaysia suddenly “run amok”? In The Geography of Madness, acclaimed magazine writer Frank Bures investigates these and other “culture-bound” syndromes, tracing each seemingly baffling phenomenon to its source. It’s a fascinating, and at times rollicking, adventure that takes the reader around the world and deep into the oddities of the human psyche. What Bures uncovers along the way is a poignant and stirring story of the persistence of belief, fear, and hope.

Principles and Practice of Movement Disorders provides the complete, expert guidance you need to diagnose and manage these challenging conditions. Drs. Stanley Fahn, Joseph Jankovic and Mark Hallett explore all facets of these disorders, including the latest rating scales for clinical research, neurochemistry, clinical pharmacology, genetics, clinical trials, and experimental therapeutics. This edition features many new full-color images, additional coverage of pediatric disorders, updated Parkinson information, and many other valuable updates. An accompanying Expert Consult website makes the content fully searchable and contains several hundred video clips that illustrate the manifestations of all the movement disorders in the book along with their differential diagnoses. Get just the information you need for a clinical approach to diagnosis and management, with minimal emphasis on basic science. Find the answers you need quickly and easily thanks to a reader-friendly full-color format, with plentiful diagrams, photographs, and tables. Apply the latest advances to diagnosis and treatment of pediatric movement disorders, Parkinson disease, and much more. View the characteristic presentation of each disorder with a complete collection of professional-quality, narrated videos online. Better visualize every concept with new full-color illustrations throughout. Search the complete text online, follow links to PubMed abstracts, and download all of the illustrations, at www.expertconsult.com.

This groundbreaking volume is the first text devoted to psychogenic movement disorders. Co-published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and the American Academy of Neurology, the book contains the highlights of an international, multidisciplinary conference on these disorders and features contributions from leading neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, physiatrists, and basic scientists. Major sections discuss the phenomenology of psychogenic movement disorders from both the neurologist's and the psychiatrist's viewpoint. Subsequent sections examine recent findings on pathophysiology and describe current diagnostic techniques and therapies. Also included are abstracts of 16 seminal free communications presented at the conference.

From fads, crazes, and manias to collective delusions, scares, panics, and mass hysterias, history is replete with examples of remarkable social behavior. Many are fueled by fear and uncertainty; others are driven by hope and expectation. For others still, the causes are more obscure. This massive collection of extraordinary social behaviors spans more than two millennia, and attempts to place many of the episodes within their greater historical and cultural context. Perhaps the most well known example of unusual collective behavior occurred in 1938, when a million or more Americans were frightened or panicked after listening to a realistic radio drama about a Martian invasion of New Jersey, based on an adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel "War of the Worlds." Less known but equally remarkable scares based on Wells' book occurred in Chile in 1944 (when Army units were mobilized), in Ecuador in 1949 (when riots broke out, leaving more than a dozen dead), as well as in Buffalo in 1968, Rhode Island in 1974, and Europe in 1988 and 1998. The modern civilized world is by no means immune to such peculiar episodes. In the late 20th century, scores of people in the U.S. and Europe were wrongly incarcerated following claims of Satanic ritual abuse by authorities untutored in False Memory Syndrome. This episode recalls the European witch terror of the late Middle Ages, when innocent people were tortured and executed for consorting with the Devil based on the flimsiest of evidence. OUTBREAK! THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EXTRAORDINARY SOCIAL BEHAVIOR is an authoritative reference on a broad range of topics: collective behavior, deviance, social and perceptual psychology, sociology, history, folklore, religious studies, political science, social anthropology, gender studies, critical thinking, and mental health. Never before have so many sources been brought together on the mesmerizing topic of collective behavior.