HYSTERICAL EPIDEMICS ON THE WEB: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Gulf War Syndrome, Recovered Memory, Multiple Personality Syndrome, Satanic Ritual Abuse, Alien Abduction

In Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media, Elaine Showalter argues that several current phenomena meet the criteria for hysterical epidemics. Widely publicized, and with visible authority figures to lend them validity, these phenomena connect to several rich traditions, such as fin de siecle angst and the marginalizing, feminine imagery of hysteria as articulated (and established) by early psychoanalysts. Hysterical epidemics rely on media dissemination both for the consistency of the symptoms displayed by their sufferers and, at least to some extent, for the recruitment of sufferers. Enter the Internet.

Thousands of sites mention chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War syndrome, recovered memories, multiple personality, satanic ritual abuse, and aliens. There are, however, some variations in the ratios of perspectives. Some phenomena attract more mainstream attention, other attract more hostile critiques. And anything to do with UFOs attracts not only a great deal of attention but a kind of loving critique and adaptation as well.

Some of these issues revolve around finding a "medical" or "acceptable" explanation, and others have deeper implications for trust, particularly trust of government. All of them touch on the application of the scientific method in some way. This page is a beginning for thinking about these issues and seeing how they are represented in the exceptionally varied environment of the Web. Please let The 60-Minute Intellectual know if you find a site that belongs on this list.

ATTACKING SHOWALTER

• Showalter and CFS, a CFS support group-created page.

GENERAL SITES

• Biology Class Assignment at University of Oregon, which offers an interesting outline for thinking about diseases in society.
• The American Psychological Association
• Psych Web List of Scholarly Psychology Resources....
• Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)
• Skeptics Society
• The James Randi Educational Foundation
• Kooks Museum

CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME

Group Support and Personal Narrative
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Survey, soliciting regular updates from sufferers.
• Immune Mailing List, a support mailing list that concerns numerous immune disorders.
Practitioners and Products
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Yes, there is help!, advertising products for the treatment of CFS.
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Page, advertising products for the treatment of CFS.
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: New, Non-Drug Relief From Symptoms, advertising products for the treatment of CFS.
Critique
• dotPharmacy Update, similar clinical guidelines to LSU discussion, with more history of the disorder, and from a UK perspective.
Mainstream Resources
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CFS Home Page
• National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Fact Sheet on CFS
• "A Status Report on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" (2002)
• NIH Office of Research of Women's Health, "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome"
• World Health Organization Fact Sheet on Chronic Tiredness -- no apparent listing for "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" per se, although and ME search yielded a discussion of classification of chronic fatigue (in French).

GULF WAR SYNDROME

Group Support and Personal Narrative
• Gulf War Syndrome, Biological Warfare Conducted on U.S. Military Members, and Corporate Bio-Genocide Levied on the Planetary Population. Transcript of lecture by Cpt. Joyce Riley.
• Gulf War Syndrome Self-Help Guide
Critique
• Cover-Up of Gulf War Syndrome: A Question of National Integrity, an exhaustive documentation and discussion of Gulf War syndrome and its implications.
• Gulf War Syndrome Cover-up, an article from Media Filter's Covert Action Quarterly.
• Politics and Society, an opinion piece.
Mainstream Sources
• CNN - No mystery disease behind Gulf War Syndrome - Jan. 4, 1996, CNN report and links.
• CNN - Feb 19 - Doctor to test bacteria theory for Gulf War Syndrome, CNN report and links.
• Debating Gulf War Syndrome , Frontline coverage.
• Why Files -- "Chemical Reaction!", discusses chemical toxicity in general and uses Gulf War syndrome findings as an example.

RECOVERED MEMORY

Group Support and Personal Narrative [Links dropped off net. Please send valid links to 60-Minute Intellectual. Thanks you!]
Practitioners and Products
• Veritas Programming, a site offering support and publications for and about recovered memory and post-traumatic stress sufferers.
• Cavalcade Productions, offering videos about recovered memory, dissociative disorder and ritual abuse.
Critique
• Lecture Four Repression and Recovered Memories: from the 1890s to the 1990s Hugh Miller & Pauline Williams, links, discussion and resources at Nottingham Trent University.
• NOT SO SPIRITUAL TOPICS, Religious Tolerance perspectives on recovered memory and ritual abuse.
• Links to Witchhunt related articles and sites
• The Limits to Free Expression
• New England Journal of Medicine Book Review: Making Monsters: False memories, psychotherapy, and sexual hysteria, positive book review. Blames Freud.
• Discovering New Memories in Psychotherapy -- Childhood Revisited, Fantasy, or Both?, NEJM Sounding Board.
• The Cracked Planet Shopping Spree, featuring the inevitable computer joke.
Mainstream Resources
• No retrial planned in repressed-memory murder case
• Questions and Answers about Memories of Childhood Abuse, at the American Psychological Association.
• Behavioral and Mental Disorders (Non MeSH), part of an extensive list of links about diseases and disorders.

MULTIPLE PERSONALITY SYNDROME

Group Support and Personal Narrative
• The Spectrum of Dissociative Disorders: An Overview...., article on an interesting, woman-oriented Web site.
• Rainbow House, a support site.
• SADM: Sexual Abuse, Dissociation and Multiple Personality..., a support site.
• persevering, a Christian support site.
• Mollykat's Survivor's Resources, includes sexual assualt, sexual abuse, domestic violence, ritual abuse, depression, physical health, mental health, DID (multiple personality) and links for littles.
• Silencing the Voices, describes "one woman's triumph over multiple personality disorder".
• As You Desire Me: Psychology of a Multiple Personality, publisher site.
Practitioners
• Mental Health Net - Self-help Resources
• Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, personal site of Dr. Robert Corelli.
Imagery and Critique
• Thompson, Billy - Billy's Multiple Personality , features an interview with Billy in which he describes his rationale for the page's title.

SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE

Group Support and Personal Narrative
• Mind Control Forum Home Page, includes a Ritual Abuse and Mind Control report.
Critique
• "NOT SO SPIRITUAL" TOPICS, a site with numerous links describing ritual abuse and evidence to support and refute its existence.
• witch hunt information center, massive list of links, primarily about legal action against individuals.
• Links to Witchhunt related articles and sites, different mix of links, by Doug Hill.
• Introductory essay on the recovered memory controversy (with references), also by Doug Hill.
Mainstream Resources
• Pastor, wife acquitted in child sex trial

ALIEN ABDUCTION

Catalogs and UFOlogists -- and the inevitable Adaptations and Parodies (in no particular order)
• Celestial Web Turnpike, an embarrassment of link riches.
• Men In Black, a magazine. Has nothing to do with the upcoming movie.
• Krone Chronicles, a Case.
Group Support and Personal Narrative
• The Alien Jigsaw , a self-published first-person narrative, available through this Web site. Researcher's supplement and workbook for abductees also available here.
• Are You An Alien Abductee?, 52 questions to help you decide.
• Alien Abduction Experience and Research, information and discussion about everything from abductees to X-Files. Free 30-day introductory trial.
Mainstream Resources
• NOVA Online/Kidnapped by UFOs?, features interviews with "believers" and "skeptics" and a "teachers' guide" to information about the debate.
Critique
• Alien Abductions and the End of White People, interesting analysis of imagery.
• The Doctor's Plot (James Gleick), in which Dr. John Mack of Harvard University is discussed at length.

Do you know of a site that offers a perspective not offered here? Please tell us about it!

Modified November 2003 (minor, no comprehensive recheck).