Chain Reaction

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It is a quiet Friday morning last July, as a hell of a noise the East of Malaysia broke out at a school in the North. Siti Nurannisaa, a 17-year-old student, was in the midst of the chaos.

This is your report of what happened.

The Assembly bell rang.

I was at my Desk feeling sleepy, when I felt a hard, sharp tap on my shoulder.

I turned to see who it was, and The Room was dark.

fear overtook me. I felt a sharp, rending pain in my back and in my Head spinning. I fell to the ground.

Before I knew it, I was looking in the 'other world'. Scenes of blood, gore and violence.

The Most terrible, what I saw was a face of evil.

It was followed me, I could not escape. I opened my mouth and tried to scream, but no sound came out.

I was unconscious.

Siti outbreak triggered a powerful Chain Reaction that ripped through The School . Within a few minutes students in lecture halls, began to scream, your desperate cries flip through the halls.

A girl fell into a swoon, to have after they claim seen the same "dark figure".

class room doors slammed in Ketereh national Secondary School (SMK Ketereh) in Kelantan, as in panic, teachers and students barricaded themselves in. Islamic spiritual healers were called in to lead a mass prayer sessions.

at the end of The Day , 39 People were as affected by an outbreak of "Mass Hysteria ".

Mass Hysteria or mass psychogenic illness, as it is called, is the rapid spread of physical symptoms as hyperventilation and shrugged, taking a large group of People - with no plausible organic cause.

", It prompts a collective response to stress, over-stimulation of the Nervous System ," says the American medical sociologist and author Robert Bartholomew . "Think of it as a software problem. "

the mechanisms That are understood to be behind the Mass Hysteria often poor and it is not listed in the Dsm manual of mental disorders. But psychiatrists such as Dr Simon Wessely from King's College Hospital in London see it as a "collective behaviour".

"The symptoms are real - fainting, heart palpitations, headaches, nausea, trembling, and even fits," he says. "It is often the result of a disease, but for which no conventional biomedical explanation can be found. "

Transfer, he, "is added mainly to psychological and social factors".

outbreaks recorded has been around The World , with cases dating back to as early as in the Middle Ages . Incidents in Malaysia were mainly among the workers, in the 1960s. Today, it is homes is largely on children in schools and residential.

One of the many mosques in the city of Ketereh Robert Bartholomew decades, the study of the phenomenon in Malaysia. He calls The South -East Asian country, "the Mass Hysteria capital of The World ".

"He is a deeply religious and spiritual country, in which many People , especially those from rural and conservative States, faith in the forces of the traditional folklore and the supernatural. "

But the Problem of hysteria remains sensitive. In Malaysia, the cases involved girls from the Malay have-Muslim ethnic majority More Than any other group.

"It is not to deny that Mass Hysteria is a predominantly female phenomenon," says Mr Bartholomew. "It is the only constant in the [scientific] literature. "

Surrounded by lush green Rice fields, the sleepy Malay Village Padang Lembek is located on The Outskirts of Kelantan capital of Kota Bharu.

It is a small, tight-knit community, where everyone knows each other, the kind of place that many Malaysians revels in memories about how their country used to be. There are family-run restaurants, beauty salons, a mosque, and a good neighbourhood schools.

Siti 's family in their house in Padang Lembek Siti and her family live in a modest, One -story house, easily distinguished by its weathered red roof and green exterior. An old, rugged motorbike she shares with her Best Friend Rusydiah Roslan, who lives in the area, is parked outside.

"We drove them to school in The Morning I was possessed by a "spirit"," Siti says.

Like any other teenager, stress affects Siti . She says she felt it The Most during your last school year in the year 2018, when all the important investigations loomed.

"I prepared myself for weeks, trying to remember my notes but something was wrong," she says. "It felt Like nothing was going on in my Head . "

not to sleep in The School during the July study period left Siti in the position, or eat properly. It took a month of rest before you are back to your almost normal self.

- An outbreak of Mass Hysteria usually begins with what experts call an "index case," the First Person to be affected.

In this story, Siti .

"It doesn't happen overnight," says Robert Bartholomew . "It starts with a child, And Then quickly spreads to other, because of exposure to a pressure-cooker environment of stress. "

And all it takes is a large increase in the fear of being in a group situation, as you can see, a fellow classmate fainting, or a seizure to trigger a reaction in another person.

Siti compares their experiences with ghosts, as with their "eyes covered" Rusydiah Roslan will never forget, you see your Best Friend in this state. "Siti was crying uncontrollably," she says. "No One knew what to do. We had a touch of fear, too. "

The Girls have always been close, but the events of recent years have strengthened their bond. "It helps us to talk about what happened," said Rusydiah says. "It helps us to move. "

From the outside, SMK Ketereh looks Like any other Malaysian High School . Huge shade trees, its premises and its walls have fresh coats in grey and bright yellow color.

Makcik (Auntie) Zan is a popular stall runs over the road, local Rice to sell dishes. They prepared food a year ago, that humid July morning, when she heard screams.

"The screams were deafening," the older man says as they served dishes, the grilled mackerel, Yellow Curry , and steaming sticky Rice .

SMK Ketereh, Siti Nurannisaa school is located on a busy street in the Kelantan countryside at least Nine Girls looked at is carried out of their classrooms, kicking and screaming. She recognized some of them as regulars in their stable. "It was a heart-rending sight," she says.

they later saw a witch doctor, you give a small prayer room with his assistant. "You were there for hours," she recalls. "I pity The Children what they saw That Day . "

security at SMK Ketereh increased since July 2018 incident. "To prevent outbreaks of the spiral, we restructured again, our security program and had a change in staff," a senior employee told the BBC, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to the media.

Daily prayer and the psychology sessions have also been introduced, he said. "Safety comes first, but we also know the importance of caring for our students. "

It is unclear what such meetings or, if they were designed by Mental Health professionals. He would no more details.

experts such as Robert Bartholomew strongly urge that the Malaysian students are trained about the phenomenon, its spread in the country.

"you should be taught, why Mass Hysteria happens, and how it spreads," he says. "It is also important that you learn How To cope with stress and anxiety. "

the Malaysian Ministry of education officials have not responded to a request for comment.

SMK Ketereh is One of the 68 secondary schools in Kelantan. But it is far from the only One who is experiencing an outbreak.

at the beginning of 2016, Mass Hysteria took hold in many schools in the country. "The officials could not, with several outbreaks and close all the schools," says Firdaus Hassan, a local reporter.

-and TV-camera man, Chia , Chee-Lin remember a febrile atmosphere, April. "It's Mass Hysteria season and cases have occurred will not stop the spread from One school to another," says Chia .

attracted a lot of attention in the media. Students and teachers have been described in the reports, as always, "obsessed", after lurking a "dark, shadowy figure", the connection. Over 100 People were affected.

diploma-Siti Ain (on the right) with her mother, who says drinks and snacks outside of The School Siti Ain, sold, studied at SMK Pengkalan Chepa 2, you will notice it, as the "Most Haunted school in the whole of Malaysia".

"The fear lasted for hours, but it took months For Life to return to normal is says," the Now 18-year-old.

it shows us a secluded spot next to a basketball court. "This is where it started," she says, pointing to a number of tree stumps. "My classmates said they saw an older woman standing under the trees.

"I could not see what they saw, but their reactions were real. "

A series of tree stumps where large Angsana trees stood the witch-doctors were brought in to perform exorcisms on 30 affected girls.

islam, psychology, long reads, malaysia

Source of news: bbc.com