Mass Hysteria at Catholic Boarding School

16Apr07

At a School for the Poor, a Mysterious Illness:

After batteries of tests, doctors now believe that the illness that has struck 600 of the 3,600 girls at this charity-run school is psychological.

In medical terms, Mexico’s public health authorities have concluded that the girls at the Children’s Village School are suffering from a mass psychogenic disorder. In layman’s language, they have a collective hysteria.

But Dr. Víctor Manuel Torres Meza, the director of epidemiology for the Mexico State health department, said there were some 80 documented cases from around the world. They are usually in closed communities, like schools and factories, and they tend to occur more frequently among adolescents and among girls.

[...]

“We have a group of only girls living under a situation of strict control and discipline that they have to follow to the letter,” Dr. Torres Meza said. “These illnesses occur in closed groups that have no external communication. Emotional factors have a cumulative effect. What is the trigger?”

This is a strict school. The girls see their parents at most two weeks in July, ten days at Christmas and on parent’s day. And, of course, this is a Catholic school:

María Leyda Aguilar, 14, sat on the gymnasium floor while her classmates went through a dance and aerobics routine. After a month, she is getting better. “I have taken it with joy,” she said of her illness. “Perhaps it was a test that God has given me. Maybe God shows his care this way.”

I don’t know what to say about this. I don’t believe this is representative of Catholic schools, or boarding schools, or schools for the poor. It’s pretty clear that this isn’t a healthy environment for children. They’re kept on a strict discipline, away from their families, and indoctrinated (or so it seems) in the Catholic faith.

This is a misuse of the girls’ situation. They come from the poorest regions in Mexico. This is perhaps their best chance at becoming something. That, of course, is not a valid justification for treating them badly.

How can someone believe that an illness is God’s way of showing how much he cares about you? This irrational idea is just as stupid as it is dangerous. When you live your life on the premise that whatever happens, it’s God’s way of showing how much He loves you, you risk the danger of not wanting to make your life better. This supernatural fatalism certainly isn’t going to foster a hope for bettering your life.

Filed under: christianity, religion, superstition, theism   |  Closed