Dr. Charcot, call your office!

Maybe there’s something in the air. Erin Brokovich thinks there might be something in the water. After all, there's a Superfund site nearby. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s all between the ears. Conversion disorder has erupted at the high school in LeRoy, New York. Over a dozen young ladies (and one lad) have debilitating tics and even paralysis. Some tend toward verbal outbursts of the South Park variety. The signs and symptoms are quite real. So is the pain and suffering. It's tempting to believe in some dreadful contamination, but cause isn't chemicals or germs. Point a finger instead at the insidious workings of the subconscious mind. 

LeRoy isn't quite a bustling metropolis. Trust me, I've been there. Its claim to fame? Well...Jell-O was invented there. There's even a Jell-O Gallery and Museum if you're up for a visit, but that's about it. So what can hold a young person's attention in such a place? It's too cold for cow tipping this time of year. One can dream of spring when thoughts turn to those of fancy, but it's still winter. Cooped up inside, thoughts turn instead to those of quite another stripe. 

What's the cause of Patient Zero's symptoms? The world may never know, but it doesn't matter much anymore. Conversion disorder has another name, and it's hysteria. In fact, it's quite contagious. Remember that line about dogs and cats living together? I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before the jocks succumb to Koro. Football season may end early this year, and baseball cancelled altogether!

It's an oddity that the exact symptoms of hysteria have changed over time. As a new theory of disease becomes popular with doctors, patients' hysterical symptoms adapt. Edward Shorter's excellent From Paralysis to Fatigue brims with descriptions of this sort.  Spinal irritations, tired nerves, and wandering uteri were all suspected. 

Which portion is responsible for hysteria? 

If that wasn't bad enough, the treatments ranged from amusing to appalling. Quack potions were only the beginning. Some so-called remedies would land a modern physician in hot water or even prison.

Psychogenic illness is real, common, and contagious. It's even celebrated in song! But those who insist on a physical cause will hear none of it. But there's a nearby Superfund site! they trumpet. Well, sort of. It's three miles away. And yes, people had problems with their well water because of that chemical spill. Forty years ago. And none of them claimed any health problems in the meantime. As Ayn Rand might have said, the response is blank-out. 

We could go on and on, but what's the point? Once a paradigm becomes entrenched in the mind, it's tough to dislodge. Show someone disconfirmatory evidence and their beliefs get stronger. That's not the power of Home Depot, but rather the paradox of cognitive dissonance. 

There's a miniature circus side show in Le Roy, but it's not so much entertaining as sad . The young ladies will continue to suffer so long as their belief continues. They need therapists, not doctors, not scientists, and not Erin Brokovitch. But she might need the publicity.

There's still much stigma associated with psychotherapy. It's an unnecessary barrier to healing. The irony is that sometimes science gets in the way of knowledge.