Mass hysteria

It usually starts with one person. It could be a fainting spell, a laughing fit, crying jag and suddenly an entire school is in chaos. That evening, the television news will feature wailing, laughing and writhing school girls and the viewers will nod their heads in disbelief FLORENCE ONYANGO explores the phenomenon.In 1962, in Kashasha village, Tanzania, three girls in the Kashasha Mission School broke into fits of giggles. Within no time the contagious laughter had spread to the whole school, the village, and into neighbouring schools and villages. It affected about a thousand people and lasted for several months. The laughing epidemic was accompanied by reports of fainting, screaming, crying and difficulty breathing. More recently in March, Kitebi Primary School in Rubaga, Uganda had to be shut down due to an outbreak of mass hysteria. Almost 100 students attempted to kill a teacher. The incident began with eight students being allegedly attacked by demons. Despite prayers for the students, the incident went out of control when one of the eight “possessed” students, accused Naomi Wandera, a teacher at the school, of performing chanting rituals near a mango tree. This resulted in other students forming a mob and attacking the teacher. Police had to be called in to restore law and order. Both of the above scenarios were cases of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria comes about when a group of people exhibit similar signs of panic, fits, nausea, screaming or fainting mostly caused by stress. Though the laughing epidemic in Tanzania is indeed an almost comical case of mass hysteria, there have been stranger cases. In 2007, there was a huge outbreak at a girls’ boarding school in Mexico. The girls suffered from fever, nausea and found it hard to walk. That most cases reported occur in girls’ boarding schools seems to be a trend with mass hysteria that cuts across borders and cultures.Most girls who have attended or are in boarding school will remember times when dozens of student would be afflicted with fainting spells. Sometimes the students would start screaming or crying. It will start as a wave and after a while, things would settle down like nothing happened. Michelle Wanjiku, a 17-year-old Form Four student at a boarding school in Thika, recalls such a case. “ There was a time students were fainting and complaining of fever. You’d see them being taken to the sanatorium all the time,” she reveals. “ It’s like a cold or a flu that you can say is going around, yet you don’t really know what is causing it.”Juliana Achieng’, a former student at a boarding school in Nairobi remembers a time in 2002 when the story of a student said to have been possessed by a demon broke out. It spread through the school and created panic. It had started with one of the teachers claiming that a student was possessed and needed divine intercession. “The next thing, students were running around screaming and crying. The administration had to intervene to calm them down,” says Achieng’. Moral panic is one of the main triggers of mass hysteria in Kenyan girls’ boarding schools. Moral panic occurs when a threat to social values raises concern. The issue of being possessed could be such a threat. A medical viewpointDr Philip Ouma helps to shed some light into these phenomena. “A major cause of mass hysteria is stress,” he says.“In boarding schools, you have students confined in a stressful enclosed environment and if you take note, you will see most cases of mass hysteria in Kenyan boarding schools occur during exam time.” Considering that the physical symptoms of hysteria could be screaming, shouting, crying, irrational and incoherent speech, fainting and hyperventilation, it may appear to others as a case of a demonic attack. “One person shows these signs, is said to be possessed and others begin to panic causing disorganisation with some manifesting similar symptoms,” Ouma adds. According to him the reason behind girls’ boarding schools being the most prone to mass hysteria, is still an aspect under investigation and the answers are speculative. However, he does not rule out mass hysteria in boys’ schools. “It is likely that the incidents of boys burning down schools could have been a manifestation of mass hysteria,” he says. Last year, ‘the red caller’ scare hit Kenya with claims of victims who have died after getting a call from a mysterious number that appears in red, an urban myth that is suspected to have began in India. “One does not reason logically when in panic. By the time you calm down, you realise that the threat was not as big as you imagined and that there is a rational explanation to the situation,” says Ouma.The effects of mass hysteria include casualties and deaths as well as schools being forced to close down. Ouma believes that it is important for students and teachers to be educated in the demystification of people showing physical display hysteria from the issue of being possessed. It is also important for counsellors to talk to students about stress. Students should also open up to their parents and talk about their issues. Problems ailing students can seem trivial to a parent who is concerned with rent, school fees, work and so on, but these problems are real and valid for these students and they need an outlet.“ It is advisable for teachers or anyone in authority to note unrest that can potentially result in mass hysteria and in such a case, separate the students to avoid it from spreading,” advises Ouma.

Mass hysteria

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Mass hysteria

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