Investigating Morgellons Syndrome

The Role of the Media

The role of the media in sensationalising medical reporting is a well investigated phenomenon, as is the media’s ability to create hysteria and panic. Indeed the hyping of a story serves the media very well as it means more readers, more exposure and therefore more money. Medical historian Edward Shorter is quoted as observing;

“Just as cholera is spread by water droplets, epidemic hysteria is spread by the media”

Robert Aronowitz, Making Sense of Illness: Science, Society, and Disease, draws attention to the fact that the medical community routinely blame the media for sensationalism in medical reporting – new, serious and mysterious disease in suburban U.S. makes for good copy – but it is not always without good reason as the media can also reflect public fears and concerns, as well as direct them, however, he does concede that coverage too often centres around the more worrisome features of an event.

Leslie P. Boss (1997) has written about the phenomenon of epidemic hysteria which he describes (233) as “a constellation of symptoms suggestive of organic illness, but without identifiable cause” and the effect on humans he likens to that of a “stampede in the animal world” (much like the initial response to Leitao’s website). The Dallas Observer has reported that a San Antonio, Texas TV station’s search for Morgellons sufferers to interview was met with an underwhelming response, after the airing of a feature about the disease; however, they were inundated with respondents.

Classic epidemic hysterias develop in a notably different way to the manner in which Morgellons has developed, although some features are similar. Historically, epidemic hysterias in industrialized societies are centred around a ‘trigger event’ such as a nuclear release, smog, contamination of the water supply or mass chemical exposure, whilst in traditional societies they often occur in schools which advocate Western concepts which conflict with local values. Either way these ‘triggers’ cause the underlying psychological stress or anxiety to manifest as a form of panic.

According to Boss the literature indicates that there are three primary channels of communication that serve to enhance the outbreak; (i) face to face communication, (ii) gossip and rumours and, of course, (iii) the mass media. He writes that the prominence of the internet naturally increases the ability to enhance outbreaks through communication and that;

“[t]oo often, it is the media created event to which people respond rather than the situation itself”

Conclusion

There is then currently an absence of medical knowledge regarding Morgellons; this due to the fact that the Morgellons movement is a bottom-up phenomenon and the initial response of the medical community has often been to ignore it. This has resulted in a situation in which sufferers are turning to online communities for help, the result of which is to reinforce their beliefs that they are suffering from something bizarre, or indeed to create such a belief.

There is a well known phenomenon in which a delusion can be shared between two people – folie à deux, or indeed three – folie à trois, or indeed a whole family - folie à famille, or even by a great many - folie à plusieurs. Is Morgellons a cause to add folie à internaute to the cannon?

The Historical Context - Historical approaches to disease