Are Chinese Workers Suffering From Mass Hysteria or Not?

July 31, 2009 — -- Nausea. Dizziness. Vomiting. Such were the symptoms experienced last month by more than 1,200 employees of a yarn factory in the Chinese city of Jilin, according to a report in the New York Times.

But even as the workers flooded nearby emergency rooms, Chinese health officials quickly attempted to defuse concerns. While the stricken employees say their illness stemmed from toxic fumes from a nearby chemical plant, the officials maintained mass hysteria -- an outbreak of similar psychogenic symptoms among a group of people -- was to blame.

Although officials are ready to pronounce the symptoms in Jilin psychogenic, others are not ready to believe that. Incidents of mass hysteria, or mass psychogenic illness, have several classic characteristics. But differentiating between it and cases of widespread illnesses that have an organic cause can be difficult, and often the designation is made after the episode has passed.

"It's very possible that it could be an epidemic of hysteria," said Dr. Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and expert on mass hysteria. "It's a phenomenon where it's mind over matter. The mind makes the body sick. It's also the power of the group over the individual."

The overriding characteristic of mass hysteria is the lack of a clear cause, such as an infection or a chemical, something for which a doctor could test. Other important features include a stressful environment, transmission by sight or sound and higher incidence in women.

The physical symptoms of mass hysteria are very real, and experts say they should be acknowledged as such.

There are many documented cases of mass hysteria in medical literature, most occurring in insular communities, such as a school or a workplace. In the past, these have been cases of widespread rashes, itching, scratching or nausea from a perceived odor.

"People start to over-interpret their own physical sensations," Small said.

Given that the global mental state is concerned with economic and health stressors, such as the swine flu virus, Small added that he was surprised there have not been more cases of mass hysteria recently.

Other famous cases of mass hysteria include the Mad Gasser of Mattoon, in which an unknown person was said to be responsible for a series of gas attacks in Botetourt County, Va., and Mattoon, Ill., during the early 1930s.

An episode of the radio drama "The War of the Worlds," adapted by Orson Welles' Mercury Theater from H. G. Wells' novel, triggered another bout of mass hysteria in 1938 when it aired -- this one non-medical -- as it led listeners to believe an alien invasion was imminent.