I hope this doesn’t sound insensitive, but I find that condition fascinating (if “condition” is even the right word - seems more like just a different mode of thinking) because I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like.
I think it would be unusual _not_ to develop hypochondria at some point this year. The levels of existential threat, perceived or otherwise, have been sky high.
Doesn't this contradict the notion that these diplomats experienced mass psychogenic illness?
What you describe is a temporary disturbance highly susceptible to (and terminated by) the power of suggestion, no? It sounds like what the diplomats experienced is different in both respects.
Beware of psychologization of disease that isn't fully understood yet. There were also times when scurvy was considered another form of laziness and cholera an indication of moral failing.
No, they were very aware of it. Huge energy surges, hallucinations, etc. It can take years to stabilise if you don't know what you're doing, and apparently you can easily question your sanity (even if you know what to expect - if you have no guide you might really struggle with understanding the process).
One guy would nearly pass out every time he got an erection, some people have a phase of not being able to eat anything but yoghurt or milk, etc. Huge changes, like a second puberty.
Humans are not so logical. They are also known to be much worse than they think at reporting their own experiences[1], and prone to shared delusions, especially under stress[2]. There are always wild rumors under circumstances where reliable information is scarce[3].
Few experiences of my life were as frustrating as the times when part of my brain was on the fritz and I possessed enough introspection to say "This behavior is not normal!" but wasn't capable of correcting it.
Example: Back in high school I once got severely ill with drug-resistant something-or-other and got put through the ringer for a month, eventually getting moved on and off four different antibiotics, including two which included the side-effect "mildly psychotropic".
I was a very quiet guy in high school. Bit of an introvert -- had some close friends, kept my emotions in check, generally did not run through the hallways singing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs. Except there were presents out for Give-a-thon and presents mean Christmas and Christmas means I'M SO HAPPY hey that was loud DECK THE HALLS.
After running a the length of a football field to biology I burst in the door and saw a rather pretty female classmate who I had, perhaps, spoken two words to in four years. She said "Oh, Patrick, nice to see you back in school." "ITS GREAT TO SEE YOU TOO KATIE. tackle hug THIS IS NOT LIKE ME AT ALL IS IT."
It felt... I don't even know how to describe it. Like my normally tightly-functioning sense of self-control was on, operating, and evaluating things perfectly normally and I was appalled with my own behavior and yet that was totally unconnected to me at the same time.
I also had another incident in middle school where I had full control of my faculties but could not stop laughing for about an hour during a history lecture. This was despite the fact that it was disturbing the Civil War re-enactors who were explaining, e.g., that gangrene smells like nutmeg. (That set off a gale even though I thought "thats not funny" and moreover "that is monstrous to laugh at".) I excused myself to the bathroom and spent the better part of an hour with my brain terrified to go back to class for fear of what I would do and the rest of me laughing at the patterns cracks made on the toilet walls.
I wonder if the victims/hysterics themselves would react similarly upon questing? i.e. with a defensive emotional reaction, assuming such an emotion were observable in the midst of the other strange behaviour:
Yes it is. The other examples you list have different etiologies and present differently. The people doing them are different, and so is the medium. The cause may be different, and so may the outcome. Anyway, we don't just stop thinking about new things because they can be analogized to existing things.
I just wanted to point out that entire villages mysteriously being seized by mass hysteria and violent delirium happened due to at least other factors as well. Case in point: ergotism [1]
I don't want to seem dismissive, but this strikes me as the sort of thing Lovecraft would have absolutely freaked out over. I wonder if he experienced something similar or engaged with people who suffered this affliction.
I am surprised by how precise the description of symptoms is. Hyper vigilance, anxiety, avoidance, taking things too seriously, I could definitely relate to that as someone who has been having very little social interactions during this period.
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