I like to think of myself as a fairly rational and calm person, but the last few weeks, I’ve felt like I’m on the verge of tears. Since the spread of the Coronavirus, I have seen mass hysteria on an unprecedented scale.

Never in my life have I seen empty supermarket shelves, people walking around wearing masks and receiving daily updates from the government. It’s as if we’re living in some kind of nightmare. Common sense no longer applies. The rules have been turned upside down.

In times of hardship and struggle, we come together, hug each other, and visit our families and friends often. However, we cannot do that with this new threat. Instead, we must isolate ourselves and socially distance ourselves.

Our routines and daily lives must follow strict safety rules. No more unnecessary travel. Shop only for essential products. If you go out, keep a distance of two meters from others. It is enough to cause mass hysteria.

What is mass hysteria?

It is a psychological state shared by groups of people who feel threatened by a specific event or person. There are many examples of mass hysteria throughout history.

Examples of mass hysteria

Salem witch trials
In late February 1692, in a small village called Salem, Massachusetts, two young girls began having seizures. They were shaking and screaming uncontrollably. The parish and community blamed the spells on witchcraft and singled out the women who supposedly harmed these young girls.

Soon the numbers began to rise and eventually many of them showed signs of magic. In 1693, more than 200 women were accused of witchcraft. In fact, 30 were convicted and 19 executed.

Remember, only two girls were sick, but countless women ended up being detained and subjected to ridiculous “witch tests.”

twitchinglouisiana

Speaking of tingles, in early 1939, a Louisiana schoolgirl developed a strange twitch in her leg. Suddenly the tingling spread to others. The number of cases rose sharply, but no doctor was able to identify the problem.

All tests came back negative. At the same time, more and more girls were succumbing to this strange phenomenon of leg tremors.

Parents took their children out of school and refused to allow them to return until they knew the reason. After a few weeks, the leg tremors seemed to subside, but what had caused the outbreak in the first place?

Those who investigated narrowed it down to one girl – Helen – who showed the first symptoms. Helen couldn’t dance. In fact, she hated dance lessons but was worried that her boyfriend might fall in love with another girl who was a better dancer than her.

She pretended to have an uncontrollable tremor in her leg so she could get out of dance class and have a ready excuse for her boyfriend.

Bin Laden itch

After the tragic September 11 attacks in 2001, reports began to emerge of children complaining of strange rashes. The rash can last from just a few hours to a few weeks. But doctors and parents were none the wiser.

Some parents have begun to speculate that this may be the result of a bioterrorist attack. Remember, at the time we were all terrified to watch the two planes broadcast.

People started calling it the “bin Laden itch” after an unusual number of elementary school students developed the rash. As more and more children fell victim to the rash, panic and hysteria began to rise. So what is the reason?

The CDC investigated. They found that because of the initial fear of biological attack, children and parents cared more about their skin. More cases are being reported and the numbers are rising. In fact, it was these increasing numbers that started the mass hysteria.

The problem of mass hysteria

So what about today and the virus that everyone is talking about? Did mass hysteria lead to panic buying in supermarkets? Is the constant update of cases and deaths helping to fuel our anxiety? Are government orders starting to scare us?

It’s really no surprise that people become hysterical. We feel overwhelmed by the sheer scale of events when we are bombarded with information from so many different sources.

However, even though we are all living in very crazy times, there is a real problem when it comes to mass hysteria.

Mass hysteria can lead us to believe things that are simply not true.
It can also fool us into thinking that the problem is much worse than it really is.
It can change our behavior and make us act foolishly or selfishly.
It leads to the spread of misinformation that increases our anxiety.
How to deal with mass hysteria
It is true that this epidemic is more deadly than the recent swine flu outbreak in 2009, but that does not mean we need to panic.

Take, for example, the SARS epidemic in 2003, which killed about 10% of those infected. Not to mention the outbreak of the Corona virus, which killed 34% of those infected.

So far, this virus is not as deadly as SARS and MERS. Today there are about 600,000 confirmed cases and a fatality rate of 4.4%.

What does this tell us? Well, in the case of SARS and MERS, we did not see widespread lockdowns and forced changes in our behavior. But the facts and figures speak for themselves. Coronavirus is no more deadly than the last few pandemics the world has had to face.