What is Motor Hysteria?
Motor hysteria is a form of mass hysteria which involves physical symptoms which spread rapidly in a community with no apparent etiology, a medical term for “cause.” Some notable incidents in history have been accompanied with bouts of mass hysteria, ranging from outbreaks of mysterious illnesses in convents to the Salem Witch Trials, an event which some researchers think was driven by mass hysteria. Motor hysteria can endure for weeks or months until the stress which brings on the hysteria is neutralized, allowing people to return to normal.
