Can you contract an illness through social media? New research suggests it’s happening … kinda. Throughout history, people suffering from severe isolation or stress have fallen prey to something called Mass Psychogenic Illness.
Mass Psychogenic Illness (MPI) is a condition in which there’s what appears to be a mass outbreak of illness … yet no underlying medical problem. And here’s the weirdest part about MPIs: They’re contagious.
Take Portugal, for example. A group of Portuguese teenagers experienced an outbreak of unexplained breathing problems and unusual rashes. Doctors were baffled. But then, it was discovered that these kids happened to be experiencing the exact same symptoms as the teens in a popular Portuguese soap opera at the time.
People who suffer a psychogenic illness have real symptoms. What they’re experiencing is something called the nocebo effect: The symptoms occur because they *believe* they’re sick. And now, we’re seeing instances of transmission of these psychogenic illnesses … via the internet.
The biggest example of this: A dramatic spike in recent years in the number of teenagers presenting with what appeared to be cases of Tourette syndrome. One problem: Their behavior didn’t actually track with the symptoms of Tourette syndrome. What it did track with, however, was the behavior of some of the most popular Tourette influencers on YouTube and TikTok.
In the digital era, we’ve got to be careful. Vulnerable people can be just one tap away from genuine suffering, rooted in the power of suggestion.
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