Mass Psychogenic Illness

First published in 1982. This study looks at the concepts around mass hysteria or anxiety due to an illness episode that defies physical explanations and where investigators may turn to a psychological interpretation of an outbreak. The present book brings together scientists from several disciplines in an attempt to to explore outbreaks from a variety of perspectives, including historical, cultural, social, psychological, and even medical.

MICHAEL J. COLLIGAN Miami University Oxford, Ohio. JAMES W. PENNEBAKER University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. LAWRENCE R. MURPHY Xavier University Cincinnati, Ohio

Part I Overview of Mass Psychogenic Illness: Hysteria Revisited?; Chapter 1 Analyzing a Case of Mass Psychogenic Illness, Alan C. Kerckhoff; Chapter 2 Outbreaks of Mass Hysteria at Workplaces in Singapore: Some Patterns and Modes of Presentation, W. H. Phoon; Chapter 3 A Review of Mass Psychogenic Illness in Work Settings, Michael J. Colligan, Lawrence R. Murphy; Part II Methodological and Problematic Issues in MPI Research; Chapter 4 Complexities, Cautions and Concepts in Research on Mass Psychogenic Illness, Joseph E. McGrath; Chapter 5 Mass Psychogenic Illness: Individual and Aggregate Data, Neal Schmitt, Michael Fitzgerald; Chapter 6 Evidence and Inference in Research on Mass Psychogenic Illness, Robert F. Boruch; Chapter 7 Yes Virginia, There Really is a Mass Psychogenic Illness, Jerome E. Singer; Part III Theoretical Approaches to Mass Psychogenic Illness; Chapter 8 Social and Perceptual Factors Affecting Symptom Reporting and Mass Psychogenic Illness, James W. Pennebaker; Chapter 9 Mass Psychogenic Illness: The Case for Social Comparison, Jerome E. Singer, Carlene S. Baum, Andrew Baum, Brenda D. Thew; Chapter 10 Theories of Contagion As They Relate to Mass Psychogenic Illness, Jonathan L. Freedman; Chapter 11 Illness as an Emergent Norm or Doing What Comes Naturally, Sidney M. Stahl; Chapter 12 A Social Psychological View of Mass Psychogenic Illness, Alan C. Kerckhoff; Chapter 13 Perspectives on Epidemic Hysteria, François Sirois; Chapter 14 Stress and Coping Theory Applied to the Investigation of Mass Industrial Psychogenic Illness, Susan Folkman, Richard S. Lazarus;