Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-frp75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-23T00:38:18.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tarantism, dancing mania and demonopathy: the anthro-political aspects of ‘mass psychogenic illness’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Robert E. Bartholomew
Robert E. Bartholomew*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*
1 Address for correspondence: Robert E. Bartholomew, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Malaya, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

This study questions the widely held assumption that the phenomenon known as mass psychogenic illness (MPI) exists per se in nature as a psychiatric disorder. Most MPI studies are problematical, being descriptive, retrospective investigations of specific incidents which conform to a set of pre-existing symptom criteria that are used to determine the presence of collective psychosomatic illness. Diagnoses are based upon subjective, ambiguous categories that reflect stereotypes of female normality which assume the presence of a transcultural disease or disorder entity, underemphasizing or ignoring the significance of episodes as culturally conditioned roles of social action. Examples of this bias include the mislabelling of dancing manias, tarantism and demonopathy in Europe since the Middle Ages as culture-specific variants of MPI. While ‘victims’ are typified as mentally disturbed females possessing abnormal personality characteristics who are exhibiting cathartic reactions to stress, it is argued that episodes may involve normal, rational people who possess unfamiliar conduct codes, world-views and political agendas that differ significantly from those of Western-trained investigators who often judge these illness behaviours independent of their local context and meanings.

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , May 1994 , pp. 281 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Acheson, E. (1959). The clinical syndrome variously called benign myalgic encephalomyelitis, Iceland disease and epidemic neuromyasthenia. American Journal of Medicine 26, 569–595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ackerman, S. E. (1980). Cultural Process in Malaysian Industrialization: A Study of Malay Women Factory Workers. Ph.D. thesis, University of California at San Diego. University Microfilms: Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar
Ackerman, S. E. & Lee, R. L. (1978). Mass hysteria and spirit possession in urban Malaysia: a case study. Journal of Sociology and Psychology 1, 24–35.Google Scholar
Ackerman, S. E. & Lee, R. L. (1981). Communication and cognitive pluralism in a spirit possession event in Malaysia. American Ethnologist 8, 789–799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aemmer, F. (1893). Eine Schulepidemie von Tremor Hystericus. Inaugural dissertation, Basel.Google Scholar
Alexander, R. W. & Fedoruk, M. J. (1986). Epidemic psychogenic illness in a telephone operator's building. Journal of Occupational Medicine 28, 42–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appleby, L. & Forshaw, D. (1990). Postgraduate Psychiatry. Heinemann Medical Books: Oxford.Google Scholar
Araki, S. & Honma, T. (1986). Mass psychogenic systemic illness in school children in relation to the Tokyo photochemical smog. Archives of Environmental Health 41, 159–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arieti, S. & Brody, E. B. (eds.) (1972). American Handbook of Psychiatry, Volume 3 – Adult Clinical Psychiatry. Basic Books: NY.Google Scholar
Awerbuch, M. (1985). RSI or kangaroo paw? Medical Journal of Australia 142, 376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babington, P. (1859). Translator's preface, footnotes and appendix. In The Epidemics of the Middle Age (ed. Hecker, J. F. C.). Trubner: London.Google Scholar
Backman, E. L. (1952). Religious Dances in the Christian Church and in Popular Medicine (translated by Classer, E.). Allen and Unwin: London.Google Scholar
Baglivi, G. (1723). The Practice of Physick. A. Bell: London.Google Scholar
Bartholomew, R. E. (1990). Ethnocentricity and the social construction of ‘mass hysteria’. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 14, 455–494.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bauer, R. M., Greve, K. W., Besch, E. L., Schramke, C. J., Crouch, J., Hicks, A., Ware, M. R. & Lyles, W. B. (1992). The role of psychological factors in the report of building-related symptoms in sick building syndrome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 60, 213–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beard, G. (1880). Experiments with the ‘Jumpers’ or ‘Jumping Frenchmen’ of Maine. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 7, 487–490.Google Scholar
Bebbington, E., Hopton, C., Lockett, H. I. & Madeley, R. J. (1980). From experience: epidemic syncope in jazz bands. Community Medicine 2, 302–307.Google Scholar
Bell, D. S. (1989 a). ‘Repetitive Strain Injury’: an iatrogenic epidemic. In reply. Medical Journal of Australia 151, 599–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, D. S. (1989 b). ‘Repetitive Strain Injury’: an iatrogenic epidemic of simulated injury. Medical Journal of Australia 151, 280–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benaim, S., Horder, J. & Anderson, J. (1973). Hysterical epidemic in a classroom. Psychological Medicine 3, 366–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bliss, E. L. (1986). Multiple Personality, Allied Disorders, and Hypnosis. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Boulougouris, J. C., Rabavilas, A. D., Stefanis, C. N., Vaidakis, N. and Tabouratzis, D. G. (1981). Epidemic faintness: a psychophysiological investigation. Psychiatria Clinica 14, 215–225.Google ScholarPubMed
Boxer, P. A. (1985). Occupational mass psychogenic illness: history, prevention, and management. Journal of Occupational Medicine 27, 867–872.Google ScholarPubMed
Bozzolo, G. (1894). Tosse isterica epidemica. Riforma Medica 4, 735–737.Google Scholar
Burnham, W. H. (1924). The Normal Mind. D. Appleton-Century: New York.Google Scholar
Burrows, G. M. (1828). Commentaries on Insanity. Underwood: London.Google Scholar
Bury, J. B. (1958). History of the Later Roman Empire, vol. I. Constable and Company: London.Google Scholar
Calmeil, L. F. (1845). De la Folie, Considérée sous le Point de vue Pathologique, Philosophique, Historique et Judiciaire. Baillière: Paris.Google Scholar
Cartter, M. L., Mshar, P. & Burdo, H. (1989). The epidemic hysteria dilemma. American Journal of Diseases of Children 143, 269.Google ScholarPubMed
Champion, F. P., Taylor, R., Joseph, P. R. & Heddon, J. C. (1963). Mass hysteria associated with insect bites. Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association 59, 351–353.Google ScholarPubMed
Chan, O. Y., Zee, K. O. & Wong, C. K. (1979). High risk factors in Singapore factory workers. Occupational Health and Safety 48, 58–60.Google Scholar
Chan, M. & Kee, W. C. (1983). Epidemic hysteria: a study of high risk factors. Occupational Health and Safety International 52, 54–64.Google ScholarPubMed
Chew, P. K. (1978). How to handle hysterical factory workers. Occupational Health and Safety 47, 50–53.Google ScholarPubMed
Chew, P. K., Phoon, W. H. & Mae-Lim, H. A. (1976). Epidemic hysteria among some factory workers in Singapore. Singapore Medical Journal 17, 10–15.Google ScholarPubMed
Christophers, A. J. (1982). Civil emergency: butyl mercaptan poisoning in the Parnell Civil Defence emergency: fact or fiction. New Zealand Medical Journal (28 04 1982), 277–278.Google ScholarPubMed
Christophersen, E. (ed.) (1946). Results of the Norwegian Scientific Expedition in Tristan da Cunha 1837–1938. Norwegian Government: Oslo, Norway.Google Scholar
Cirillo, D. (1770). A letter to Dr. William Watson, F.R.S. giving some account of the manna tree and the tarantula. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London) 60, 233–238.Google Scholar
Cockerham, W. C. (1981). Sociology of Mental Disorder. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Colligan, M. J. (1978). An investigation of apparent mass psychogenic illness in a furniture assembly plant. Unpublished report prepared for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio.Google Scholar
Colligan, M. J. & Murphy, L. R. (1979). Mass psychogenic illness in organizations. Journal of Occupational Psychology 52, 77–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colligan, M. J. & Smith, J. J. (1978). A methodological approach for evaluating outbreaks of mass psychogenic illness in industry. Journal of Occupational Medicine 20, 401–402.Google ScholarPubMed
Colligan, M. J. & Urtes, M. A. (1978). An investigation of apparent mass psychogenic illness in an electronics plant. Unpublished National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report.Google Scholar
Colligan, M. J., Urtes, M. A., Wisseman, C., Rosensteel, R. E., Anania, T. L. & Hornung, R. W. (1979). An investigation of apparent mass psychogenic illness in an electronics plant. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 2, 297–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colligan, M. J., Pennebaker, J. W. & Murphy, L. R. (1982). Overview of mass psychogenic illness: hysteria revisited? In Mass Psychogenic Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis (ed. Colligan, M. J., Pennebaker, J. W. and Murphy, L. R.), pp. 1–3. Lawrence Erlbaum: Hillsdale, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Cornish, J. (1814). On a convulsive epidemic in Cornwall, caused by a religious excitement. Medical and Physical Journal 31, 373–379.Google Scholar
Cruz, C. M. (1990). Health and work: the case of the gas emissions at the industrial complex of Mayaguez. Puerto Rican Health Sciences Journal 9, 123–125.Google Scholar
Daido, S. (1969). Epidemic hysteria with hyperventilation syndrome. Journal of the Japanese Psychosomatic Society 9, 42.Google Scholar
Davidson, A. (1867). Choreomania: an historical sketch, with some account of an epidemic observed in Madagascar. Edinburgh Medical Journal 13, 124–136.Google Scholar
Davy, R. B. (1880). St-Vitus' dance and kindred affection; the recent epidemic at the Ursulin convent in Brown County, Ohio; a sketch of the historic disease. Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic 4, 440–445, 467–473.Google Scholar
de Martino, E. (1966). La Terre du Remords (transl. Poncet, C.). Gallimard: Paris.Google Scholar
Deva, M. P. (1990). Psychiatry: A Brief Outline of Clinical Psychological Medicine. Ophir Medical Specialists: Selangor, Malaysia.Google Scholar
Dhadphale, M. & Shaikh, S. P. (1983). Epidemic Hysteria in a Zambian School: “The Mysterious Madness of Mwinilunga.” British Journal of Psychiatry 142, 85–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubnikov, E. I. (1927). Manifestations collectives d'hystérie traumatique durant la guerre civile. Vrach. Dielo 10, 595–599.Google Scholar
Dutta, H., Phookan, R. & Das, P. D. (1982). The Koro epidemic in Lower Assam. Indian Journal of Psychiatry 24, 370–374.Google ScholarPubMed
Eastwell, H. D. (1982). Psychological Disorders Among the Australian Aboriginals. In Extraordinary Disorders of Human Behavior (ed. Friedmann, C. T. H. and Faguet, R. A.). Plenum Press: New York.Google Scholar
Ebrahim, G. J. (1968). Mass hysteria in school children, notes on three outbreaks in East Africa. Clinical Pediatrics 7, 37–438.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Editorial (1966). Epidemic hysteria. British Medical Journal ii, 1280.Google Scholar
Ehrenreich, B. & English, D. (1978). For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts' Advice to Women. Anchor Press: Garden City, New York.Google Scholar
Elkins, G. E., Gamino, L. A. & Rynearson, R. R. (1988). Mass psychogenic illness, trance states and suggestion. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 30, 267–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faust, H. S. & Brilliant, L. B. (1981). Is the diagnosis of ‘mass hysteria’ an excuse for incomplete investigation of low-level environmental contamination? Journal of Occupational Medicine 23, 22–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferguson, D. (1971). An Australian study of telegraphist's cramp. British Journal of Industrial Medicine 28, 280–285.Google Scholar
Ferguson, D. (1987). RSI: putting the epidemic to rest. Medical Journal of Australia, 147, 213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folland, D. S. (1975). Suspect toluene exposure at a boot factory. Internal Report from the Tennessee Department of Health: Tennessee.Google Scholar
Forsyth, J. R. L. (1989). ‘Repetitive strain injury’: an iatrogenic epidemic. Medical Journal of Australia 151, 598.Google Scholar
Franchini, A. (1947). Manifestazioni isteriche collettive interpretate come sintomi di intossicazione de gas ignoto. Medicina de Lavaro 38, 57–60.Google Scholar
Frankel, S. (1976). Mass hysteria in the New Guinea Highlands: a telefomin outbreak and its relationship to other New Guinea hysterical reactions. Oceania 47, 105–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freud, S. (1922). A Seventeenth-Century Demonological Neurosis. In Collected Works of Sigmund Freud. (1961). Hogarth Press: London.Google Scholar
Friedman, T. I. (1967). Methodological considerations and research needs in the study of epidemic hysteria. American Journal of Public Health 57, 2009–2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallini, C. (1988). La Ballerina Variopinta: una Festa di Guarigione in Sardegna. Liguori: Naples.Google Scholar
Gamino, L. A., Elkins, G. R. & Hackney, K. U. (1989). Emergency management of mass psychogenic illness. Psychosomatics 30, 446–449.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garnier, S. (1895). Barbe Buvée, en Religion, soeur Sainte-Columbe et la Prétendue Possession des Ursulines d' Auxonne. Felix Alcan: Paris.Google Scholar
Garrison, F. H. (1913). An Introduction to the History of Medicine. W. B. Saunders: Philadelphia, PA.Google Scholar
Gehlen, F. L. (1977). Toward a revised theory of hysterical contagion. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 18, 27–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Genik, Y. A. (1898). Deuxième épidémie d'hystérie dans le comté de Podolsk (gouvernement de Moscou). Nevrologie Vestnik, Kazan 6, 146–159.Google Scholar
Gloyne, H. F. (1950). Tarantism: mass hysterical reaction to spider bite in the Middle Ages. American Imago 7, 29–42.Google ScholarPubMed
Goh, K. T. (1987). Epidemiological enquiries into a school outbreak of an unusual illness. International Journal of Epidemiology 16, 265–270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, E. L. (1973). Crowd hysteria in a junior school. Journal of School Health 43, 362–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldsmith, M. F. (1989). Physicians with Georgia on their minds. Journal of the American Medical Association 262, 603–604.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordon, B. L. (1959). Medieval and Renaissance Medicine. Philosophical Library: New York.Google Scholar
Guthrie, D. (1960). A History of Medicine. Thomas Nelson and Sons: London.Google Scholar
Gwee, A. H. (1968). Koro – its origin and nature as a disease entity. Singapore Medical Journal 9, 3–6.Google Scholar
Gwee, A. H., Kiat, L. Y., Boo, T. N., Hoe, C. K., Chew, W., Ngui, P., Chong, W. Y., Woh, L. C., Tsee, C. K. & Colbourne, J. M. (1969). The Koro ‘Epidemic’ in Singapore. Singapore Medical Journal 10, 234–242.Google Scholar
Hafez, A. (1985). The role of the press and medical community in an epidemic of mysterious gas poisoning in the Jordan West Bank. American Journal of Psychiatry 142, 833–837.Google Scholar
Haggard, H. W. (1934). The Doctor in History. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Hall, E. M. & Johnson, J. V. (1989). A case study of stress and mass psychogenic illness in industrial workers. Journal of Occupational Medicine 31, 243–250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hall, W. & Morrow, L. (1988). Repetition strain injury: an Australian epidemic of upper limb pain. Social Science and Medicine 27, 645–649.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, A. (1943). Exploring the Dangerous Trades: The Autobiography of Alice Hamilton. Little, Brown and Company: Boston, MA.Google Scholar
Hankoff, L. D. (1961). An epidemic of attempted suicide. Comprehensive Psychiatry 2, 294–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrington, J. A. (1982). Epidemic psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry 141, 98–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, R. (1985). Murder under hypnosis in the case of Gabrielle Bompard: psychiatry in the courtroom in Paris. In The Anatomy of Madness: Essays in the History of Psychiatry, Volume 2 (ed. Porter, R. and Shepherd, M.), pp. 197–241. Tavistock: London.Google Scholar
Hecker, J. F. C. (1844). Appendix D: Epidemics of the Middle Ages. In The Analysis of Hysteria (ed. Merskey, H.). Baillière Tindall: (1979).Google Scholar
Hecker, J. F. C. (1837). The Dancing Mania of the Middle Ages (translated by Babington, B.), published in 1970 by B. Franklin: New York.Google Scholar
Hecker, J. F. C. (1844). Epidemics of the Middle Ages. (Translated by Babington, B..) Sydenham Society: London.Google Scholar
Helvie, C. (1968). An epidemic of hysteria in a high school. Journal of School Health 38, 505–509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hilgard, E. R. (1977). Divided Consciousness: Multiple Controls in Human Thought and Action. John Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Hirsch, A. (1883). Handbook of Geographical and Historical Pathology. New Sydenham Society: London.Google Scholar
Hirsch, W. (1896). Epidemics of hysteria. Popular Science Monthly (New York) 49, 544–549.Google Scholar
Hirt, L. (1892). Eine Epidemie von Hysterischen Krampfen in einer Dorfschule. Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift 29, 1271–1274.Google Scholar
Hirt, L. (1893). Eine Epidemie von Hysterischen Krampfen in einer Schleisischen Dorfschule. Zeitschrift für Schulgesundheitspflege 6, 225–229. (Summary of an article by L. Hirt in the Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift.)Google Scholar
Hopkins, A. (1990). The social recognition of repetition strain injuries: an Australian/American comparison. Social Science and Medicine 30, 365–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunter, L. (1989). ‘Repetitive Strain Injury’: an iatrogenic epidemic. Medical Journal of Australia 151, 598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huxley, A. (1952). The Devils of Loudun. Harper and Brothers: New York.Google Scholar
Hyde, J. K. (1973). Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: The Evolution of the Civil Life, 1000–1350. St. Martin's Press: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ikeda, Y. (1966). An epidemic of emotional disturbance among Leprosarium nurses. Psychiatry 23, 152–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ilchyshyn, A. & Smith, A. G. (1985). Gum arabic sensitivity associated with epidemic hysteria dermatologica. Contact Dermatitis 13, 282–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Inglis, B. (1965). A Brief History of Medicine. Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London.Google Scholar
Jilek, W. & Jilek-Aall, L. (1977). A koro epidemic in Thailand. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review 15, 57–61.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. M. (1945). The ‘phantom anesthetist’ of Matoon: a field study of mass hysteria. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 40, 175–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, A. H. M. (1984). The Decline of the Ancient World. Longman: London.Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (1969). Personality Development. Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich: New York.Google Scholar
Kagwa, B. H. (1964). The problem of mass hysteria in East Africa. East African Medical Journal 41, 560–566.Google ScholarPubMed
Kaplan, H. I. & Sadock, B. J. (eds.) (1985). Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, Volume 2. Williams and Wilkins: Baltimore, MD.Google Scholar
Katner, W. (1956). Das Rätsel des Tarentismus. Eine Aetiologie der italienischen Tanzkrankheit. Nova Acta Leopoldina n.s. 18, (number 124), Barth: Leipzig.Google Scholar
Kerckhoff, A. C. & Back, K. W. (1968). The June Bug: A Study of Hysterical Contagion. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Kleinman, A. (1987). Culture and clinical reality: commentary on culture-bound syndromes and International Disease Classifications. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 11, 49–52.Google Scholar
Knight, J. A., Friedman, T. I. & Sulianti, J. (1965). Epidemic hysteria: a field study. American Journal of Public Health 55, 858–865.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Landrigan, P. J. & Miller, B. (1983). The Arjenyattah epidemic: home interview data and toxicological aspects. Lancet ii, 1474–1476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langness, L. L. (1965). Hysterical psychosis in the New Guinea highlands: a bena bena example. Psychiatry 28, 258–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laquer, L. (1888). Über eine Chorea-Epidemie. Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift (Leipzig) 14, 1045–1046.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lattas, A. (1992). Hysteria, anthropological disclosure and the concept of the unconscious: cargo cults and the scientisation of race and colonial power. Oceania 63, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeBon, G. (1896). Psychologie des Foules, 2nd edn.Alcan: Paris.Google Scholar
Lee, R. L. (1979). The Social Meaning of Mass Hysteria in West Malaysia and Singapore. Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Lee, R. L. & Ackerman, S. E. (1980). The sociocultural dynamics of mass hysteria: a case study of social conflict in West Malaysia. Psychiatry 43, 78–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Legendre, J. (1936). Une Curieuse Epidémié (Koro). Presse Médicale (Paris): 1534.Google Scholar
Levine, R. J. (1977). Epidemic faintness and syncope in a school marching band. Journal of the American Medical Association 238, 2373–2376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, R. J., Sexton, D. J., Romm, F. J., Wood, B. T. & Kaiser, J. (1974). An outbreak of psychosomatic illness at a rural elementary school. Lancet ii, 1500–1503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, I. M. (1991). The spider and the pangolin. Man (N.S.) 12, 513–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lidz, T. (1963). Hysteria (ed. Deutsch, A. and Fishman, H.), In The Encyclopedia of Mental Health, Volume 3, pp. 818–826. Franklin Watts: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucire, Y. (1986). Neurosis in the workplace. Medical Journal of Australia 145, 323–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCunney, R. J. (1987). The role of building construction and ventilation in indoor air pollution: review of a recurring problem. New York State Journal of Medicine 87, 203–209.Google ScholarPubMed
MacDonald, M. (1981). Mystical Bedlam: Madness, Anxiety, and Healing in Seventeenth-Century England. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
McEvedy, C. P. & Beard, A. W. (1970). Royal Free epidemic: a reconsideration. British Medical Journal i, 7–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEvedy, C. P., Griffith, A. & Hall, T. (1966). Two school epidemics. British Medical Journal ii, 1300–1302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, J. E. (1982). Complexities, cautions and concepts in research on mass psychogenic illness. In Mass Psychogenic Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis (ed. Colligan, M., Pennebaker, J. and Murphy, L.), pp. 57–85. Lawrence Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
McLeod, L. (1865). Madagascar and Its People. Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green: London.Google Scholar
Madden, R. R. (1857). Phantasmata or Illusions and Fanaticisms of Protean Forms Productive of Great Evils. T. C. Newby: London.Google Scholar
Maguire, A. (1978). Psychic possession among industrial workers. Lancet i, 376–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markush, R. E. (1973). Mental epidemics: a review of the old to prepare for the new. Public Health Reviews 4, 353–442.Google Scholar
Marsella, A. J. & White, G. M. (1984). Cultural Conception of Mental Health and Therapy. Holland: D. Reidel: Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Massey, E. W., Brannon, W. L. Jr. & Riley, T. L. (1981). The ‘jerks’: mass hysteria or epilepsy? Southern Medical Journal 74, 607–609.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Medalia, N. Z. & Larsen, O. (1958). Diffusion and belief in a collective delusion: the Seattle windshield pitting epidemic. American Sociological Review 23, 180–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, R. G. & Salmon, P. (1988). Abnormal Psychology. Allyn and Bacon: Boston.Google Scholar
Miller, D. L. (1985). Introduction to Collective Behavior. Wadsworth: Belmont, CA.Google Scholar
Millon, T. (1969). Modern Psychopathology: A Biosocial Approach to Maladaptive Learning and Functioning. W. B. Saunders: Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Millon, T. & Millon, R. (1974). Abnormal Behavior and Personality: A Biosocial Learning Approach. W. B. Saunders: Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Moffat, M. E. (1982). Epidemic hysteria in a Montreal train station. Pediatrics 70, 308–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohr, P. D. (1980). From demoniac possession to mystery gases. World Medicine 15, 17–19.Google Scholar
Mohr, P. & Bond, M. J. (1982). Epidemic blindness. British Medical Journal 284, 961–962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monberg, T. (1962). Crisis and mass conversion on Rennell Island in 1938. Journal of the Polynesian Society 71, 145–150.Google Scholar
Mora, G. (1963). A historical and socio-psychiatric appraisal of tarantism. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 37, 417–439.Google Scholar
Moss, P. D. & McEvedy, C. P. (1966). An epidemic of overbreathing among schoolgirls. British Medical Journal ii, 1295–1300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhangi, J. R. (1973). Mass hysteria in an Ankole school. East African Medical Journal 50, 304–309.Google Scholar
Muluka, E. A., Dhadphale, M. & Mwita, J. (1985). Family hysteria in a Kenyan setting. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases 173, 249–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mutibwa, P. M. (1974). The Malagasy and the Europeans: Madagascar's Foreign Relations, 1861–1895. Longman: London.Google Scholar
Nandi, D., Banerjee, G., Bera, S., Nandi, S. & Nandi, P. (1985). Contagious hysteria in a West Bengal village. American Journal of Psychotherapy 39, 247–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, P. L. (1964). ‘Wild man’ behavior in a New Guinea highlands community. American Anthropologist 66, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngui, P. W. (1969). The koro epidemic in Singapore. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 3, 263–266.Google Scholar
Nina-Rodrigues, P. (1901). Nouvelle contribution à l'étude des folies épidémigues au Brésil. Annales Medico-Psychologiques (8èmesérie) 13, 19–31, 189–199, 370–381; 14, 5–18, 202–209.Google Scholar
Norman, E. H. (1945). Mass hysteria in Japan. Far Eastern Survey 14, 65–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olczak, P., Donnerstein, E., Hershberger, T. & Kahn, I. (1971). Group hysteria and the MMPI. Psychological Reports 28, 413–414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olkinuora, M. (1984). Psychogenic epidemics and work. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health 10, 501–515.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ong, A. (1987). Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia. State University of New York Press: Albany, NY.Google Scholar
Ong, A. (1988). The production of possession: spirits and the multinational corporation in Malaysia. American Ethnologist 15, 28–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parigi, S. & Biagiotti, F. (1956). Su di una epidemia di isterismo. Rassegna di Studi Psichiatrici (Siena) 45, 1112–1114.Google Scholar
Parin, P. (1948). Die Kriegneurose der Jugoslawen. Schweizer Archiv für Neurologie und Psychiatrie 61, 303–324.Google Scholar
Parsons, T. (1955). Family structures and the socialization of the child. In Family, Socialization, and the Interaction Process (ed. Parsons, T. and Bales, R. F.). The Free Press: New York.Google Scholar
Pfeiffer, P. H. (1964). Mass hysteria masquerading as food poisoning. Journal of the Maine Medical Association 55, 27.Google ScholarPubMed
Philen, R. M., Kilbourne, E. M. & McKinley, T. W. (1989). Mass sociogenic illness by proxy: parentally reported in an elementary school. Lancet ii, 1372–1376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, P. E. (1974). Internal report prepared for the Division of Health, the State of Missouri.Google Scholar
Phoon, W. H. (1982). Outbreaks of mass hysteria at workplaces in Singapore. Mass Psychogenic Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis (ed. Colligan, M., Pennebaker, J. and Murphy, L.), pp. 21–32. Lawrence Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Polk, L. D. (1974). Mass hysteria in an elementary school. Clinical Pediatrics 13, 1013–1014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollock, G. & Clayton, T. M. (1964). Epidemic collapse: a mysterious outbreak in three Coventry schools. British Medical Journal ii, 1625–1627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pullela, S. (1986). An outbreak of epidemic hysteria: an illustrative case study. Irish Journal of Psychiatry 7, 9–11.Google Scholar
Rankin, A. M. & Philip, P. J. (1963). An epidemic of laughing in the Buboka district of Tanganyika. Central African Journal of Medicine 9 167–170.Google ScholarPubMed
Rawnsley, K. & Loudon, J. B. (1964). Epidemiology of mental disorder in a closed community. British Journal of Psychiatry 110, 830–839.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redlich, F. C. & Freedman, D. X. (1966). The Theory and Practice of Psychiatry. Basic Books: New York.Google Scholar
Reig-y-Casco, J. (1881). Los convulsionarios de Santa Crosia. Siglo Medico (Madrid, Spain) 28, 584–587.Google Scholar
Rembolt, S. (1893). Acute Psychische Contagion in einer Madchenschule. Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift 30, 662–663.Google Scholar
Robertson, F. (1806). Account of a singular convulsive affection which prevails in the State of Tennessee. Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal 2, 86–95.Google Scholar
Robinson, P., Szewezyk, M., Haddy, L., Jones, P. & Harvey, W. (1984). Outbreak of itching and rash. Archives of Internal Medicine 144, 159–162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rockney, R. M. & Lemke, T. (1992). Casualties from a junior-senior high school during the Persian Gulf War: toxic poisoning or mass hysteria? Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 13, 339–342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosen, G. (1962). Psychopathology in the social process: dance frenzies, demonic possession, revival movements and similar so-called psychic epidemics. An interpretation. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 36, 13–44.Google ScholarPubMed
Rosen, G. (1968). Madness in Society. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.Google Scholar
Russell, J. F. (1979). Tarantism. Medical History 23, 404–425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rust, F. (1969). Dance in Society: An Analysis of the Relationship Between the Social Dance and Society in England from the Middle Ages to the Present Day. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.Google Scholar
Sargent, M. & Cooper, M. (eds.) (1962). The Outline of Music. Arco Publishing: New York.Google Scholar
Schoedel, J. (1906). Über Induzierte Krankheiten. Jahrbuch für Kinderheilkunde 14, 521–528.Google Scholar
Schuler, E. A. & Parenton, V. J. (1943). A recent epidemic of hysteria in a Louisiana high school. Journal of Social Psychology 17, 221–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, J. C. (1985). Weapons of the Weak. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Seeligmuller, A. (1876). Über epidemisches Auftreten von hysterischen Zustanden. Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie 33, 510–528.Google Scholar
Selden, B. S. (1989). Adolescent epidemic hysteria presenting as a mass casualty, toxic exposure incident. Annals of Emergency Medicine 18, 892–895.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Selvadurai, S. (1985). Problems of Residential Students in a Secondary Technical School. MSc. thesis, University of Malaya.Google Scholar
Serao, F. (1750). Idem, Della tarantula ovvero falangio di Puglia. Naples, Italy.Google Scholar
Shapiro, H. L. (1936). The Heritage of the Bounty. London.Google Scholar
Sharrod, F. (1985). RSI, kangaroo paw, or what? Medical Journal of Australia 142, 376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shephard, R. D. & Kroes, W. H. (1975). Report of an Investigation at the James Plant. Internal document prepared for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio.Google Scholar
Sigerist, H. E. (1943). Civilization and Disease. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, NY.Google Scholar
Sigurdsson, B., Sigurjonsson, J., Thorkelsson, J. & Gudmundsson, K. (1950). Disease epidemic in Iceland simulating poliomyelitis. American Journal of Hygiene 52, 222–238.Google ScholarPubMed
Singer, J. E. (1982). Yes Virginia, there really is a mass psychogenic illness. In Mass Psychogenic Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis (ed. Colligan, M., Pennebaker, J. and Murphy, L.), pp. 127–135. Lawrence Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Singer, J. E., Baum, C. S., Baum, A. & Thew, B. D. (1982). Mass psychogenic illness: the case for social comparison. In Mass Psychogenic Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis (ed. Colligan, M., Pennebaker, J. and Murphy, L.), pp. 155–169. Lawrence Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Singer, C. & Underwood, E. A. (1962). A Short History of Medicine. Clarendon Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Sinks, T., Kerndt, P. R. & Wallingford, K. M. (1989). Two episodes of acute illness in a machine shop. American Journal of Public Health 79, 1024–1028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sirois, F. (1974). Epidemic hysteria. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Supplementum 252, 7–46.Google ScholarPubMed
Sirois, F. (1982). Perspectives on epidemic hysteria. In Mass Psychogenic Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis (ed. Colligan, M., Pennebaker, J. and Murphy, L.), pp. 217–236. Lawrence Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Skultans, V. (1975). Madness and Morals: Ideas on Insanity in the Nineteenth Century. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.Google Scholar
Small, G. & Borus, J. (1983). Outbreak of illness: mass hysteria or toxic poisoning? New England Journal of Medicine 308, 632–635.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Small, G. W. & Nicholi, A. M. (1982). Mass hysteria among student performers: early loss as a predisposing factor. Archives of General Psychiatry 39, 721–724.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smelser, N. J. (1962). Theory of Collective Behavior. Prentice-Hall: New Jersey.Google Scholar
Smith, H. C. T. & Eastham, E. J. (1973). Outbreak of abdominal pain. Lancet ii, 956–959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M. J., Colligan, M. J. & Hurrell, J. J. (1978). Three incidents of industrial mass psychogenic illness: a preliminary report. Journal of Occupational Medicine 20, 399–400.Google ScholarPubMed
St. Clare, W. (1787). Gentleman's Magazine 57, 268.Google Scholar
Stahl, S. M. & Lebedun, M. (1974). Mystery gas: an analysis of mass hysteria. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 15, 44–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stahl, S. M. (1982). Illness as an emergent norm or doing what comes naturally. In Mass Psychogenic Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis (ed. Colligan, M., Pennebaker, J. and Murphy, L.), pp. 185–198. Lawrence Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Stewart, J. R. (1991). The West Bank collective hysteria episode: the politics of illness. Skeptical Inquirer 15, 153–160.Google Scholar
Stricklin, A., Sewell, M. & Austas, C. (1990). Objective measurements of personality variables in epidemic neuromyasthenia patients. South African Medical Journal 77, 31–34.Google ScholarPubMed
Struewing, J. F. & Gray, G. C. (1990). Epidemic of respiratory complaints exacerbated by mass psychogenic illness in a military recruit population. American Journal of Epidemiology 132, 1120–1129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szego, K. (1896). Über die Imitationskrankheiten der Kinder. Jahrbuch für Kinderheilkunde (Leipzig) 41, 133–145.Google Scholar
Tam, Y. K., Tsoi, M. M., Kwong, G. B. & Wong, S. W. (1982). Psychological epidemic in Hong Kong (Part 2). Psychological and physiological characteristics of children who were affected. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 65, 437–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, E. S. (1963). Epidemic hysteria. Medical Journal of Malaya 18, 72–76.Google ScholarPubMed
Tan, E. S. (1972). Prospects of psychiatric research in a multiracial developing community: West Malaysia. In Transcultural Research in Mental Health Volume II of Mental Health Research in Asia and the Pacific (ed. Lebra, W.), pp. 3–12. University Press of Hawaii: Honolulu.Google Scholar
Tan, E. S. (1980). Culture-bound syndromes among overseas Chinese. In Normal and Abnormal Behavior in Chinese Culture (ed. Kleinman, A. and Lin, T. Y.), pp. 371–386. Reidel: Boston.Google Scholar
Taylor, D. C. (1989). Hysteria, belief, and magic. British Journal of Psychiatry 155, 391–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teoh, J. I. (1972). Epidemic hysteria in Malaysia. In Proceedings of the 7th Malaysia-Singapore Congress of Medicine (08 14–16), pp. 73–78. The Academy of Medicine of Malaysia, General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia.Google Scholar
Teoh, J. I. (1975). Epidemic hysteria and social change: an outbreak in a lower secondary school in Malaysia. Singapore Medical Journal 16, 301–306.Google Scholar
Teoh, C. L. & Dass, D. (1973). Spirit possession in an Indian family – a case report. Singapore Medical Journal 14, 62–64.Google Scholar
Teoh, J. I. & Tan, E. S. (1972). The sociology of an outbreak of epidemic hysteria.Paper presented to the 4th Conference on Culture and Mental Health in Asia and the Pacific, East-west Center,Honolulu, Hawaii.Google Scholar
Teoh, J. I. & Tan, E. S. (1976). An outbreak of epidemic hysteria in West Malaysia. In Culture-Bound Syndromes, Ethnopsychiatry, and Alternate Therapies. Volume IV of Mental Health Research in Asia and the Pacific (ed. Lebra, W. P.), pp. 32–43. University Press of Hawaii: Honolulu.Google Scholar
Teoh, J. & Yeoh, K. (1973). Cultural conflict in transition; epidemic hysteria and social sanction. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 7, 283–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teoh, J., Soewondo, S. & Sidharta, M. (1975). Epidemic hysteria in Malaysia: an illustrative episode. Psychiatry 8, 258–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, A. & Krieger, L. (1976). Jamaican vomiting sickness: a theoretical investigation. Social Science and Medicine 10, 177–183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thornton, J. B. (1885). Some curious facts concerning the ‘Jumpers.’ Medical Record 28, 713.Google Scholar
Truper, J. (1908). Zur Frage der Schulerselbstmorde. Zeitschrift für Kinderforschung 143, 75–86.Google Scholar
Tseng, W. S., & McDermott, J. F. Jr. (1981). Culture, Mind and Therapy: An Introduction to Cultural Psychiatry. Brunner/Mazel: New York.Google Scholar
Tseng, W. S., Kan-Ming, M., Hsu, J., Li-Shuen, L., Li-Wah, O., Guo-Qian, C. & Da-Wei, J. (1988). A sociocultural study of koro epidemics in Guangdong, China. American Journal of Psychiatry 145, 1538–1543.Google ScholarPubMed
Tseng, W. S., Kan-Ming, M., Li-Shuen, L., Guo-Qian, C., Li-Wah, O. & Hong-Bo, Z. (1992). Koro epidemics in Guangdong, China: a questionnaire survey. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 180, 117–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turnbull, A. (1771). Letter from Mr. Turnbull to Archibald Menzies of Kildares, Esq. dated from Delphos, concerning Italy, the alleged effects of the bite of the Tarantula, the Grecian antiquities. In Essays and Observations Physical and Literary, pp. 100–115. Balfour: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Turner, R. H. & Killian, L. M. (1972). Collective Behavior (2nd edn.). Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Virchow, R. (1849). Die Einheitsbestrebungen in der Wissenschaftlichen Medizin. G. Reimer: Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, A. F. C. (1963). Mass hysteria. In The Encyclopedia of Mental Health, volume 3 (ed. Deutsch, A. and Fishman, H.), pp. 990–997. Franklin Watts: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, N. (1982). An outbreak of hysterical paraplegia. Paraplegia 3, 154–157.Google Scholar
Wessely, S. (1987). Mass hysteria: two syndromes? Psychological Medicine 17, 109–120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wichman, R. (1890). Eine sogenannte Veitstanzepidemie in Wildbad. Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift (Leipzig) 16, 632–636, 659–663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woon, H. T. (1976). Epidemic hysteria in a Malaysian Chinese extended family. Medical Journal of Malaysia 31, 108–112.Google Scholar
Yandell, D. W. (1882). Epidemic convulsions. Brain 4, 339–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yap, P. M. (1952). The Latah reaction: its pathodynamics and nosological position. Journal of Mental Science 98, 516–564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zilboorg, G. (1935). The Medical Man and the Witch during the Renaissance. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.Google Scholar