DOH suggests students learn relaxation techniques to avoid ‘mass hysteria’

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday advised students and teachers to adapt relaxation techniques to avoid mass hysteria in times of disaster.

In a public briefing, DOH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said that they treated dozens of students following the recent 4.4-magnitude earthquake in Pugo, La Union that was also felt in Baguio City.

“There were 40 high school children that were brought to the emergency department of Baguio General… Na-overwhelm kami [we were overwhelmed]. We had to put up tents, but all of them were just suffering from what we call hyperventilation syndrome or hysteria. It was mass hysteria,” he said.

According to a study published in the US National Library of Medicine, mass hysteria is a social phenomenon triggered by collective anxiety due to a perceived threat, which often manifests into symptoms without any cause.

Furthermore, in a paper, British psychiatrist and and former president of the UK's Royal College of Psychiatrists Simon Wessely described one form of mass hysteria as "mass anxiety hysteria," consisting of episodes of acute anxiety seen in group interactions, "occurring mainly in schoolchildren." 

Herbosa said that mitigating anxiety must be a practice along with evacuation drills to prevent mass hysteria.

“If you are in panic, you hyperventilate, that means you breathe very fast. But if you do that, and all your classmates panic, nakakahawa yan [it becomes contagious]. You can create mass hysteria,” he said.

“Lahat naman tayo nakakaramdam ng earthquake [We all feel earthquakes], so we’re not as vulnerable as a tourist whose never felt an earthquake in his life and suddenly feel it… The reaction is the one we need to correct,” he added.

The health secretary suggested relaxation techniques to treat hyperventilation syndrome.

“Let a calm person take you out of that hysterical place and then put you in a safer place, then tell you to breathe deeply. Ang tawag ko [I call it] box breathing: four seconds inhale, four seconds exhale. You do that for several times. It’s a relaxation technique,” he said.

“The treatment to hysteria is relaxation and concentrating on your breathing. You put them in a quiet place where there is no panic… Nakakahawa talaga yun na nakikita mo yung classmates mo nagpa-panic [at] nag-iiyakan, tapos may isang hinihimatay. Ikaw na din magpa-panic,” he continued.

(The feeling can be contagious when you see your classmates panicking and crying, and someone faints. You will also panic.)

He also advised teachers to lead as an example.

“If you’re the teacher, kailangan alam mo yung psychological first aid to treat and calm everybody. Pag yung teacher nag-panic, ganoon din yun,” he said.

(If you’re the teacher, you need to know the psychological first aid to treat and calm everybody. If the teacher panics, that will be the same.) — Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/BM, GMA Integrated News