Demystifying Mass Hysteria

Irina Shlionskaya

Sometimes, watching the behaviour and listening to the judgments of some people, especially regarding modern political and economic problems, you catch yourself thinking that this is reminiscent of a mass psychosis. But the phenomenon of mass hysteria has been known since time immemorial.

Its outbreaks were observed in medieval Europe from the 13th to the 17th century. They happened in France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Luxembourg. People started dancing right on the streets and could not stop. Others joined one dancer, the number of dancers could reach up to a thousand ... Many fell from exhaustion, there were deaths from heart attacks and strokes.

This "ailment" was associated with a curse sent to sinners by St. John the Baptist, who was also called St. Vitus. It was believed that for healing, he should pray. And for some it really helped.

In 1692, in the American city of Salem, Massachusetts, young girls and teenage girls began to show signs of possession: they screamed, convulsed, and so on. Subsequently, the unfortunate began to show that the cause of such behaviour was witchcraft. Dozens of women and even men were arrested, tortured and executed, accused of magical acts. The Salem witch trials are still remembered today as an example of the most terrible mass hysteria in history, for which completely innocent people paid with their lives.

And here is the testimony of a doctor who lived in the 15th century:

"One nun in a German nunnery began to bite all her companions. Within a short time, all the nuns of this monastery began to bite each other. The news of this hobby of nuns soon spread, and now she moved from monastery to monastery throughout Germany, mainly in Saxony , and then visited the nunneries of Holland, and, finally, the mania of bites reached even Rome. Religious figures believed that the nuns were possessed by the devil. However, the exorcism sessions did not produce results. Then the sisters who behaved in this way were flogged or dipped in cold water. After that, they really stopped biting.

The Epidemics of the Middle Ages, published in 1844 by J. F. K. Hecker, gives the following story. A nun in one of the French monasteries suddenly began meowing like a cat. After some time, the rest of the nuns began to imitate her, and soon literally the entire monastery was meowing. I even had to call the soldiers. Since the priests believed that the meowing was caused by possession, and the cats were credited with "collaborating" with the devil, the soldiers began to beat and flog the nuns, which was then considered an effective measure against possession. And it really ended the meow epidemic.

Modern scientists, psychologists and doctors believe that a number of factors can influence the formation and spread of collective hysteria. It could be medium pressure, fears and stresses, social anxiety, strong arousal, set of religious beliefs as well as the behaviour of authority figures.

All these things have an impact on the psyche and nervous system of people and can encourage them to initiate inappropriate behaviour or to imitate those who initiate such behaviour. Moreover, this is inherent in the very process of evolution: we try to adapt to the so-called reference group, and therefore copying mechanisms can work.

But, as you can see, hysteria is quite easy to stop by violent methods, which, however, are not always acceptable in modern society.

- Pravda.ru