More than 12 students in LeRoy, N.Y., have been suffering since late 2011 from a mysterious illness that has deep historical roots. Among the students who are suffering from this sudden onset of Tourette’s-like symptoms, some are accepting of the conversion disorder diagnosis, which is currently the most accepted explanation for the symptoms. One of the affected girls told ABC news that this diagnosis is what helps her get up in the morning.
Conversion Disorder Dates Back to Ancient Greece
While the disorder’s name has changed throughout the years, the general symptoms and diagnosis goes back to 400 B.C. It was Hippocrates who first called the phenomenon “mass hysteria” which means “wandering womb.” Its symptoms, as described in a report by the National Association of Pupil Services Administrators, “included convulsions, twitching, muscle spasms, abdominal cramps, nausea, and headaches in unmarried Greek women. Symptoms typically spread quickly to other women in the vicinity of the victim.”
Explanations throughout history
The NAPSA Journal points out that in the Middle Ages, these symptoms were blamed on sinfulness. In Colonial America, witchcraft was thought to be the culprit. (Remember the Salem Witch Trials?) Throughout the years, the disorder has been blamed on demon possession. The most common explanations in modern times have been toxins and pollutants. The problem with all these explanations is the same: lack of supporting evidence.
The common denominators
The British Journal of Psychology explains that conversion disorder is a subcategory of a somatoform disorder, which is a type of Mass Sociogenic Illness. The diagnostic criteria for these illnesses includes characteristics such as mostly young female populations, underlying stress, sudden onset with rapid spread and rapid recovery and no pathogen to account for symptoms; the victims often know each other. Despite modern efforts to identify a toxin, chemical or pollutant that serves as a common denominator that links the cases, there’s never one to be found. Over the past three decades, 60% of these cases occur in schools.
So it’s all in their heads?
For those who are experiencing the symptoms, the disorder is very real. The diagnostic criteria includes ruling out that the affected are faking. However, in terms of objective reality, no external cause is ever found. That’s why the illness is considered to be of a psychological nature.
Does everyone accept this explanation?
Though one of the girls in New York said she accepted the diagnosis, not everyone does. The problem with this diagnosis is that it accounts for those cases where no other explanation is found. That leaves the risk that a faulty assumption is being made. This could easily lead to circular logic which assumes that because no pathogen was found, there was no pathogen. The reasoning ignores the possibility that there may have been a pathogen that wasn’t found. Despite this, officials refused to allow representatives of environmentalist Erin Brockovich to test soil near the school that may have contaminants from a 1970s train wreck that caused a chemical spill. Officials argue that the potentially contaminated soil, which is three miles away from the school, is not close enough to warrant concern. Water and air were tested by state officials and nothing suspicious was found. Whether the soil itself will be tested at all has not yet been addressed. Hopefully, it will be. The affected students have not yet “rapidly recovered” as the conversion disorder diagnosis requires. Four new cases in the area were identified in early February.