Little Green Men, Meowing Nuns and Head-Hunting Panics ─ A Study of Mass Psychogenic Illnesses and Social Delusion

Sociologist Bartholomew, a specialist in culture-specific psychiatric disorders, starts with a history of mass hysteria and social delusions and distinguishes between the two, investigating the former in closed settings such as work and school, as well as in communities. He also discusses the major types of collective delusions symbolic scare, immediate threat, mass wish fulfillment, urban legends, and mass panics. Finally he addresses major issues of mass hysteria and looks at future directions for study. Throughout, he presents case histories from medieval dance manias to the 1997 "PokTman panic that resulted in the hospitalization of Japanese children. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Robert E. Bartholomew has taught sociology in Australia at The Flinders University of South Australia and James Cook University in Queensland. A former broadcast journalist and contributor to news organizations such as the Associated Press and United Press International, he currently teaches at Botany College in Auckland, New Zealand.