Doctors say the symptoms could be due to conversion disorder - once known as mass hysteria. Even though it is a psychological condition, the symptoms are real. However, campaigner and environmentalist Erin Brockovich is now investigating whether it could have something to do with pollution. Ms Brockovich is looking into whether a chemical that spilled in a 1970 train derailment about four miles from the school could have anything to do with it.
Although the school has ruled out a link with the derailment because "the plume has been shown moving in the opposite direction some three miles away", it has called in an independent environmental expert to investigate. The school wants "sound advice" from professionals on the situation, "void of self-interest", school administrator Kim Cox said.
YouTube link.
"Our community has suddenly found itself at the centre of national attention due to the students who have been exhibiting neurological symptoms," the school's administrator said in a statement. This has led to much speculation, conjecture and misinformation in the national media and consequently within our community." According to the Mayo Clinic, females are much more likely to get conversion disorder and it is more common in adolescents or young adults.
8 comments:
It ended up just being mass hysteria
Oh was it?
Thanks for that!
I don't know. When I visited LeRoy (in-laws live there), the kids seem to be normal. Perhaps there are other explanations to the ticks.
yeah, just hysteria, or maybe it was a spill on location of a few thousands gallons of cyanide crystals and carbon tetrachloride?.
no! do not check, for shure it is most certainly hysteria. Prozac, the best remedy for all ailment!!!
Well, Erin Brockobitch is on it, so it can't be anything real.
You don't sound threatened by Erin Brockovich, at all, Anonymouse
A child at my son's school developed some behavioural problems. The exhibited as unpredictable violent outbursts including swearing and both directed and undirected physical violence. After a while some other kids started to exhibit similar but less extreme behaviour. One day a week the child was taken out of school to go to a behaviour centre with his parents. Teachers noticed that the behaviour or other children was better on those days. Then he was off sick for a week and by mid week the behaviour of the rest of the children in class was back to normal.
The behavioural specialists concluded that other children were copying his behaviour because he got more attention then them. They could not say whether this was a conscious choice on the part of the children or not.
Could this be a similar thing?
Probably just a local version of latah or koro.
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/mental_illness.html
The fact that only girls seem to show symptoms suggests that the condition is psychological. Chemical contamination would affect both sexes.
And please note that I'm not saying girls are prone to hysteria. Koro almost exclusively affects males.
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