Mass hysteria

It is by the thought-building quality of consciousness that humans formulate and perceive their own unique world. Each perception of the universe is ultimately subjective. Although consensual reality is a strong determinant, there is also an element of mass hysteria in our reactions to experience, as well as an element of mass hypnosis in our perceptions. We, and the worlds we construct, are the stuff of dreams, as Shakespeare put it. We mold this stuff of dreams using our mental... 

The panic settled down, however. The ladies went back to work. Mass hysteria, the pundits said. A bunch of women reacting blindly because their leader got upset by something. 

Small GW, Propper MW, Randolph ET, et al Mass hysteria among student performers social relationship as a symptom predictor. Am J Psychiatry 9 1200-1205, 1991... 

Politicians in our parliamentary democracies who wish to please public opinion feel the urge to take into account demands that are more emotional than scientific, and advocate restrictions even when these go against the best interests of the citizens. The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident in the United States which resulted in no fatalities, the more recent Chernobyl explosion which, as of 1988 had directly caused two deaths, have, with no good reason, prevented any resumption of the U.S. nuclear program and have aroused fears in European countries in people least likely to give way to mass hysteria. 

Moscrop, A. (2001). Mass hysteria is seen as main threat from bioweapons. British Medical Journal, 323(7320), 1023. 

Taylor, B. W, Werbicki, J. E. (1993). Pseudodisaster A case of mass hysteria involving 19 schoolchildren. Pediatric Emergency Care, 9(4), 216-217. 

Symptoms secondary to nerve agent exposure may be especially difficult to differentiate from stress-associated somatic symptoms. Disaster somatization reaction (DSD), an alternative nosological term to mass hysteria, psychogenic illness, worried well, vicarious victims and contagious fear, classifies the response in patients who interpret their anxiety symptoms as due to direct exposure or infection, or who develop symptoms similar to those identified with exposure or infection (25). 

Cultural beliefs may define the interpretation of arousal experienced by a group. In several episodes of mass hysteria in Singapore factories, Malay females showed symptoms they attributed to possession by jin, or spirits (Chew et al. 1976 Phoon 1982). Treatment of these cases often required help from a bomoh, or medicine man, believed by the women to rule demons and exorcise spirits (Chew 1978). 

Aldous JC, Ellam GA, Murray V, et al An outbreak of illness among schoolchildren in London toxic poisoning not mass hysteria. ] Epidemiol Community Health 48 41-45, 1994... 

Faust HS, Brilliant LB Is the diagnosis of mass hysteria an excuse for incomplete investigation of low-level environmental contamination Journal of Occupational Medicine 23 22-26,1981... 

Holden C Love Canal residents under stress. Science 208 1242-1244,1980 Hopwood DC, Guidotti TL Recall bias in exposed subjects following a toxic exposure incident. Arch Environ Health 43 234-237,1988 Houts PS, McDougall V Effects of informing workers of their health risks from exposure to toxic materials. Am J Ind Med 13 271-279, 1988 Johnson DM The phantom anesthetist of Mattoon a fieid study of mass hysteria. J Ahnorm Soc Psychol 40 175-186,1945... 

Weisaeth L Psychological and psychiatric aspects of technological disasters, in Individual and Community Responses to Trauma and Disaster The Structure of Human Chaos. Edited by Ursano RJ, McCaughey BG, Fullerton CS. Cambridge, MA, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp 72-102 Weissman HN Distortions and deceptions in self presentation effects of protracted litigation in personal injury cases. Behav Sci Law 8 67-74,1990 Wessely S Mass hysteria two syndromes Psychol Med 17 109-120,1987 Withers J Major Industrial Hazards Their Appraisal and Control. New York, Halsted Press, 1988... 

Rockney RM, Lemke T Casualties from a junior-senior high school during the Persian Gulf War toxic poisoning or mass hysteria J Dev Behav Pediatr 13 339-342, 1992... 

Small GW, Boms JF Outbreak of illness in a school chorus toxic poisoning or mass hysteria N Engl J Med 308 632-635,1983... 

Small GW, Nicholi AM Mass hysteria among schoolchildren early loss as a predisposing factor. Arch Gen Psychiatry 39 721-724,1982... 

Small GW, Feinberg DT, Steinberg D, et al A sudden outbreak of illness suggestive of mass hysteria in schoolchildren. Arch Fam Med 3 711-716,1994... 

Stahl SM, Lebedun M Mystery gas an analysis of mass hysteria. J Health Soc Behav 15 44-50, 1974... 

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