“Epidemics of the mind” may be more challenging than ever to stop in an online world, experts say. Most mental illnesses are individual problems but others are contagious, according to Australian psychologist Dianna Kenny. These forms of self-destruction tend to spread by personal contact or by the distribution of information. “These things just take off. Just one little aberration in the environment can start a terrible snowballing effect,” Kenny said. Although mental illness epidemics are bizarre, they are not uncommon across history, she said. In medieval Europe, outbreaks of the “dancing plague” struck where people suddenly started dancing uncontrollably. The Salem witch hunts were another “psychic epidemic.” In the 1980s, American daycare centers nationwide faced completely unfounded accusations of satanic child abuse. Epidemics like these aren’t caused by anything physical, Kenny said, but they still damage people and communities. Today, the transgender movement resembles these psychic epidemics, Kenny warned, but …
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