Uttarakhand: Students shout, scream, bang their heads as `mass hysteria` grips school - WATCH

New Delhi: A video of a Uttarakhand school, in which girl students can be seen purportedly screaming, crying and rolling on the floor, is doing rounds on social media platforms. The video is of a government school in Raikholi area of Bageshwar district. Soon after the video came to light a team of administration and doctors visited the school after the incident that has left the education department in a tizzy. 

This mass hysteria among students of the school in Uttarakhand's Bageshwar is causing concern among the parents as well as the authorities. Previously, the incidents of mass hysteria have been reported in government schools in neighbouring districts such as Almora, Pithoragarh, and Chamoli.

In the footage, a number of students, mostly girls, started screaming and rolling on the ground in a fit of hysteria, causing panic among the teachers.

Watch the video here:

According to the reports, the head teacher of the school said that the sudden change in behaviour of students was first reported on Tuesday. “They were crying, shouting, shivering, and even trying to bang heads for no reason. We called parents, they summoned a local priest and this is how the situation came under control,” Vimla Devi told a English news daily.

Reports suggested that the counselling of the students revealed that the girls were not able to get over the recent flash floods in the district in which their classmate had drowned. 

What is mass hysteria?

Mass hysteria refers to an outbreak of unusual and uncharacteristic behaviors, thoughts and feelings, or health symptoms shared among a group of people.

Experts largely consider mass hysteria a type of conversion disorder, or mental health condition that involves physical symptoms prompted by emotional or mental tension. There is no official treatment for mass psychogenic illness.