Last week, Starehe Girls' Centre was closed indefinitely over what had been earlier termed as a strange disease. However, it was later revealed that the students were suffering from mass hysteria.
Basically, mass hysteria is a mental disorder characterized by emotional excitability or fear in which a person may have physiological-related symptoms impacting the nervous system without an organic cause as pointed out by Maria Cohut, PhD, a researcher.
Different factors have been linked to these conditions. Here are some of the causes of mass hysteria;
1. Excessive stress
Stress is a major cause of concern and it has been linked to various health problems. When a person is stressed up, he or she is apt to make impetuous decisions which may in turn torment or traumatise their mind. For instance, being stressed about exams and such can make one fall victim to this mental disorder.
2. Panic leads to irrational thinking
Panicking could also be the reason why some students at the Starehe Girls' Centre had been diagnosed with this mental disorder.
Panicking over something can negatively affect and torture your brain in one way or another. Scientifically, people tend to think so hard when subjected to panicking. This can actually prompt a person to make irrational decisions without even giving it a second thought.
3. Uncertainty and fear of the unknown
Plausibly, the students were nervous. They were in fear of something and apparently, this is what made them suffer from mass hysteria.