Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T23:10:05.777Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epidemic Hysteria in a Zambian School: “The Mysterious Madness of Mwinilunga”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Manohar Dhadphale  and
S. P. Shaikh
Manohar Dhadphale
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi, PO Box 30588, Nairobi, Kenya
S. P. Shaikh
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ndola, Zambia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The authors were sent to Mwinilunga from Ndola to investigate what was reported to the local press as ‘mysterious madness'. The condition was actually an outbreak of epidemic hysteria which was triggerred off by a group of girls who were having educational and emotional problems prior to the epidemic.

A change in the administrative policy of rigidly segregating the sexes apparently prepared an emotionally charged background for the rapid spread of the illness. The salient features and management of the epidemic are discussed.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 85 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adomakoh, C. C. (1973) The pattern of epidemic hysteria in a girls' school in Ghana. Ghana Medical Journal, 13, 407–11.Google Scholar
Benaim, S., Horder, J. & Anderson, J. (1973) Hysterical epidemic in a classroom. Psychological Medicine, 3, 366–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hecker, J. F. (1844) Epidemics of the Middle Ages. In: The Analysis of Hysteria, (ed. Mersky, H.) pp. 266–76, London: Baillière-Tindall.Google Scholar
Kagwa, B. H. (1964) The problem of mass hysteria in East Africa. East African Medical Journal, 41, 560–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Mersky, H. (1979) The Analysis of Hysteria pp. 174–87, London: Baillière-Tindall.Google Scholar
Moss, P. D. & McEvedy, C. P. (1966) An epidemic of overbreathing among school girls. British Medical Journal, 2, 1295–1300.Google Scholar
Muhangi, J. R. (1973) A preliminary report on mass hysteria, in an Ankole school in Uganda. East African Medical Journal, 50, 304–9.Google Scholar
Sirois, F. (1974) Epidemic hysteria. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, supp. 252, 7–35.Google Scholar
Sirois, F. (1975) A propos de la fréquence des épidémies d'hystérie. L'Union Médicale Du Canada, 104, 121–3.Google Scholar
Tan, E. S. (1963) Epidemic hysteria. The Medical Journal of Malaya, 18, 72–6.Google Scholar
Teoh, J. I. (1973) Chinese spirit mediumship: its socio-cultural interpretation and psychotherapeutic aspects. Singapore Medical Journal, 14, 55–61.Google Scholar
Teoh, J. I., Soewondo, S. & Sidharta, M. (1975) Epidemic hysteria in Malaysian schools, an illustrative episode. Psychiatry, 38, 258–68.Google Scholar
Teoh, J. I. & Yeoh, K. L. (1973) Cultural conflict and transition: Epidemic hysteria and social sanction. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 7, 283–96.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.