Panic & Hysteria

Getting Started...

Some possible search terms for databases/search engines:

"mass hysteria"
"mass psychogenic illness"
"mass panic"
"mass panic" AND history
"conversion disorder" OR "hysteria"

Read:

"Mass Hysteria" - EBSCO Research Starter

This in-depth research starter from EBSCO offers an overview of the phenomenon known as mass hysteria, discusses specific cases in recent history, and looks at other areas of related research around how things like gender and media may factor into it.

VeryWellMind - "What is Mass Hysteria (Mass Psychosis)?"

This webpage provides a very readable overview of the phenomenon, how it manifests, likely causes, and some historical examples.

"What is Mass Psychogenic Illness?"

This webpage from American Family Physician offers a nice overview of the phenomenon with answers to some of the most common questions about it.

"Dancing Plagues and Mass Hysteria"

This article by John Waller, published in 2009 on the website of the British Psychological Society, takes a closer look at some of the more famous cases of mass hysteria and explores the causes, predeterminants, and resolutions.

Mass hysteria is a very real phenomenon with very hard to identify causes. Whether an entire town can't stop dancing or people suddenly start worrying about minor marks on their windshields, these seemingly unbelievable events have had some surprising (and sometimes devastating) effects.

In this episode of The List Show, Erin McCarthy (@erincmccarthy) takes us through seven incidents of mass hysteria throughout history. The section on the Salem Witch Trials starts around minute 10, but the whole video is worth a view.

Gale Databases

The Vermont Online Library is a great source for reference, news, magazines, audio/video files and more.

Use Gale in Context: High School for general resources/searches. You can use Gale in Context: U.S. History for great resources on the background for this play (The Red Scare/McCarthyism). The Gale OneFile: Psychology and Gale in Context: Science database are great places to explore the psychology behind concepts like mass panic and mob psychology.

Get started with this New York Times article about the mysterious medical phenomenon of mass hysteria incidents: "The Doctor's World: Mysterious Illnesses often turn out to be Mass Hysteria". Also of interest is the article from the Skeptical Inquirer which looks at an incident of mysterious illness which some believe was mass hysteria or mass psychogenic illness and which was particularly significant as it was one of the first such cases which included an element of social networking in terms of its spread.

Note: You can filter your searches by content level in all of these databases!

Britannica School

Britannica School is a great place to start most research projects. You'll find helpful articles offering foundational information for your topic, plus additional resources and recommended web resources connected to your topic (see the "Related" tab in each article).

Try the Britannica School entry on "Conversion Disorder" (formerly known as "hysteria") for an informative overview of the psychological disorder and the evolution of how we understand it.

U.S. Major Dailies

For relevant newspaper sources, try searching the U.S. Major Dailies database from ProQuest. Log in with your CSD Google account.

A 2024 New York Times article titled, "How So Many People Became Obsessed with Looking for Drones in the Sky", takes a look at a recent spate of drone "sightings" in New Jersey that are now thought to have been fueled by collective fear and distrust.

This 2018 New York Times article examines what we know about the panic that ensued around Orson Welles' 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, and what it can tell us about how panic can spread through word of mouth and social media today.

Reminder: Explore the "More Like This" or "Related Articles" sections in all of the database articles in order to find more resources and dig deeper.

Watch:

The razor-thin line between contagion and connectionAfter a mysterious wave of tics and twitches swept through a small-town high school in New York, documentary podcaster Dan Taberski set out to investigate what was really happening. Drawing on extensive research and intimate interviews with the people involved, he explores the roots of mass hysteria — and what it reveals about the line between illness and belonging. What happens when the very thing that makes us sick ... is also what connects us?

Beyond the Talk: Dan Taberski on the roots of mass hysteriaDocumentary podcaster Dan Taberski and Shoshana Ungerleider, host of the "TED Health" podcast, explore his research into the roots of mass hysteria, what it reveals about the line between illness and belonging, and why telling better stories about health may be one of the most powerful tools we have.

Making Connections:

What role did "mob psychology" or "herd mentality" play in the hysteria and panic surrounding the Salem Witch Trials? What role did it play in the "Red Scare" of the 1950s?

Read more about "Herd Mentality" in this EBSCO Research Starter.
There has been much speculation about the causes behind the strange behaviors exhibited by the young girls who accused their neighbors of witchcraft in 1692 and 1693 Salem, but one possible explanation might be that the girls had succumbed to a case of mass psychogenic illness. What evidence can you find that could point to this explanation? Read this article on Mass Psychogenic Illness to learn more about the earmarks of this condition and determine if you see any potential connections.
The period leading up to the French Revolution is known as the "Great Fear" - it was a period of time in which wide-spread rumors contributed to a sense of unrest among the peasantry of the country and became a precursor to political upheaval. This brief Wall Street Journal article takes a look at what new research says about this period, and looks at how unrest is sowed and spread in today's world of social media connection.

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