Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Psychology & Developing Societies
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by MacLachlan, M.
Right arrow Articles by Mc Auliffe, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Epidemic Psychological Disturbance in a Malawian Secondary School: A Case Study in Social Change

Malcolm MacLachlan

Department of psychology, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Dixie Maluwa Banda

Department of Educational Foundations, Chancellor College, University of Malawi

Eilish Mc Auliffe

Institute of Public Administration, Dublin, Ireland

We describe a case of Epidemic Psychological Disturbance (EPD) involving 110 pupils at a Catholic Girls Secondary School in Malawi. The EPD 'syndrome' included 'outward' behaviours (screaming, continuous laughing, crying loudly, falling down and rolling, violently threatening classmates, speaking gibberish) and 'inward' behaviours (refusing to eat, withdrawal, hallucinating, hypersensitivity to noise, and headache at the base of the skull).

These problems disappeared when most of the affected pupils were sent home. We consider a number of possible causes for this case of EPD, including physical, psychological, traditional, institutional, and political factors. It is suggested that the present case of EPD can be interpreted as reflecting a defence and protest against certain aspects of the rapid social and political changes which Malawi has witnessed over the past few years.

Psychology & Developing Societies, Vol. 7, No. 1, 79-90 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/097133369500700105
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Health PsycholHome page
M. Maclachlan
Cultivating Pluralism in Health Psychology
J Health Psychol, May 1, 2000; 5(3): 373 - 382.
[Abstract] [PDF]