Three incidents of industrial mass psychogenic illness: a preliminary report.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Colligan, Michael J. ; Hurrell, Joseph J. Jr. ; Smith, Michael J.
• Description:
  The preliminary findings of three investigations of separate occurrences of industrial mass psychogenic illness are presented to provide information on the characteristics and nature of mass psychogenic illness and to indicate some of the similarities in the incidents. The majority of employees were female and the symptoms were primarily subjective somatic complaints, including headaches, nausea, and chills. The actual outbreak of complaints was usually triggered by a physical stimulus, such as an odor, which was believed by the workers to be the source of the discomfort. The affected workers were found to have more discomfort from physical and psychological stressors (work pace, poor lighting, noise, role ambiguity, boredom). It is suggested that peer and supervisory relations are important as potential precipitators of mass psychogenic illness in an industrial setting. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Health Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Mental Health Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Environmental-factors Industrial-operations Morale NIOSH-Author Personality-traits Psychological-factors Psychosomatic-medicine Satisfaction
• ISSN:
  0096-1736
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DBBS - Division of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  399-400
• Volume:
  20
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00080362
• Citation:
  J Occup Med 1978 Jun; 20(6):399-400
• Contact Point Address:
  Michael J. Smith, U.S. Department of Health. Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Center for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1978
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4c09bcca8cab25595fb040fb7dc061380cef1dfc7082ddadab163f415f539052542afe93ac1c98bf043d1800e9fb33a12412c8b502c6a8c97aa28c40f5e83597
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/184235/cdc_184235_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 181.31 KB ]