A description of what is believed to be an episode of mass hysteria in a Lebanese village is reported in a recent issue of La Journal Medical Libanais (2007 Apr-Jun;55(2):112-5). A 16-year-old female student was referred to a university medical centre in Beirut, Lebanon after suffering attacks of shortness of breath, muscle cramps, tremors and dizziness for several days. She was referred because she was the first of eight cases from the same village to have similar symptoms. Community sources advanced potential causes for the epidemic including bioterrorism, noxious fumes and "bad spirits." In conjunction with inpatient multidisciplinary evaluation and treatment, meetings were held with members of the hospital Psychiatry and Psychology Department, a public health representative of the Ministry of Health of Lebanon, physicians who were taking care of the other cases and a psychologist working in the area where these cases were declared. After reaching a diagnosis of mass psychogenic illness (epidemic sociogenic attacks), a common strategy was adopted in an effort to control the epidemic. The authors reported that the epidemic ceased after six weeks and no recurrence had been noted in the nine months prior to the writing of the current report.
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