In 1518, the residents of Strasbourg, France, began dancing and could not stop. Mass Hysteria or mass psychogenic illness is a collective phenomenon in which people all begin experiencing similar cognitive or physical symptoms with no immediate cause. Throughout history, instances of mass hysteria have consistently appeared, and it is clear that this behavior does not emerge from chaos. Rather, it is a predictable response to societal and institutional instability. When people are thrown into unfamiliar or dangerous situations without the proper answers, a communal sense of belief and attention can ease the stress. 

 

Through my research, I have developed four mechanisms that are essential building blocks to mass hysteria: desire for recognition, social contagion, response to authority, and communal stress. 

Where mass hysteria gets tricky is when all signs point to there being no logical reason for why someone is acting or feeling the way that they are. For the Strausberg dancers, they were dismissed as being cursed, and for more modern instances, people are quick to say that the afflicted are making up their symptoms entirely. Mass hysteria forces us to tell people that they are not sick, and that is the last thing they want to hear. The hysteria itself is alive, and when it doesn’t get the attention it craves, the epidemic only gets worse.