Mass Hysteria: Fear and Catharsis

In the dancing manias of the Middle Ages, some people would dance all day and night, sometimes until they died from exhaustion. Mass hysteria, or mass psychogenic illness, is when a group of people manifest physical symptoms without a physical cause. It's been documented for centuries all over the world, but it isn't a relic of the past. In this video, I explore some of the history, some of the causes, and ponder how it might tell us something about ourselves.

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