At present, such a medical concept as an epidemic is often associated with mass infectious diseases in the ordinary reader, however, even now there is relatively little material about epidemics of a mental nature that took place in Russia and abroad and that covered no less number of people. This problem, to a certain extent, remains relevant at the turn of the 21st century.
The mention of mental epidemics is already in the works of Herodotus and Plutarch. The origins of the possible emergence of psychic epidemics in Russia are associated with the period of the emergence of views on witchcraft among the people and, as a result of this, the isolation, even among those living together, of sorcerers, witches and other persons with supernatural powers.
Human ignorance of the surrounding phenomena served as an essential factor in deep conviction of the harmful effects of such a force, allegedly causing drought, fires, pestilence and other misfortunes. The increased suggestibility of illiterate people, along with personal characteristics, including the accentuation of the character of the individual, contributed to the spread of a certain type of mental contagion. Just superstitious concepts were sufficient for suspicion, and then accusations of persons in whom evil spirits were allegedly possessed. The belief in witchcraft, as evidenced by a retrospective analysis of events, was inherent in all segments of the population. It is known that the Grand Duke Simeon the Proud sent his wife Eupraxia to her father in 1345, because he considered her "spoiled" at the wedding. In 1591, according to a contemporary, the busurmans were sent from the Crimea sorcerers who spoiled the prince Murat-Girey. After 7 years, the courtiers, swearing allegiance to Boris Godunov, said: "Do not get sorcerers for the state face."
One of the earliest manifestations of psychic contagions in Russia should be considered the phenomenon of hysteria, when allegedly an “unclean spirit” infiltrates a person’s soul, which made it possible to consider the victim “devilish”. It is no coincidence, apparently, that demonization was reflected in the Gospel and the Old Testament. The phenomenon of hysteria in Russia, which began about 600 years ago, continued until the first half of the 20th century. This type of mental epidemics reached its peak by the middle of the 17th century, which is associated with a “split” in the Orthodox religion, that is, with the separation from the Russian Orthodox Church of a part of believers who did not recognize Nikon's church reforms in 1653-1656.
When a mentally ill person, under the influence of auditory hallucinations, shouted or "cried out" incoherent and incomprehensible words to others, periodically pronouncing surnames or names, for example, of their neighbors, the persons whose names were pronounced were usually considered "tainted", and what is especially important - they were attributed the ability "Damage" others. Such an assessment of such suffering contributed to the spread of hysteria, especially among the illiterate and superstitious. Periodically, it bore the character of epidemics and was studied by such major domestic psychiatrists as V. M. Bekhterev, N. V. Krainsky, P. I. Yakobiy, as "a phenomenon of Russian folk life."
There are pages of history that highlight the so-called "spoilage" of the royal family. In 1572, Ivan the Terrible asked the Church Council for permission to marry a third time, since, in his opinion, his two first wives were “spoiled”. In the town of Lukhu near the city of Vladimir, a number of cases of the disease "klikotnoy and chunk spoilage" were noted in 1658. It was known in Russia, which took place from 1666 to 1667. an epidemic of desolation in the city of Shuya. The healing of the "possessed" by monks was demonstratively carried out there, to which many people flocked, including hundreds of the mentally ill, who were outside the walls of the institutions that were prized for them. Such mass phenomena were one of the reasons for the increase in the mentally ill in the population.
The development of hysteria in Russia, as a type of "multiple mental imitation", was largely facilitated by monasteries, where the "corrupted" were sent, that is, the mentally ill, people who flocked from different places for healing, and just pilgrims. Such a crowd of people contributed to the emergence of a reverse reaction - not a cure for the disease, but "mental infection" by the hysteria of the suggested personalities. The attitude in Russia to sorcerers and witches - "voluntarily devoted to the devil", as well as demoniac "victims of infernal anger and betrayal" developed as benevolent - "the corrupted everywhere aroused the strongest compassion." It was believed that such "innocent suffering" could be eliminated only by prayer. It must be assumed that the process of healing these sufferers intuitively included psychotherapeutic techniques in the modern understanding of this type of assistance. Then, when describing mental illness, even healers recognized the devil's interference in the origin of psychoses.
The number and scale of mental epidemics in Russia began to grow distinctly since 1666 - since the beginning of the “split” in Orthodoxy. They were manifested by mass self-immolations (burnings) among the schismatics. In 1676 in the Poshekhonsky district of the Moscow province in the parish of the Church of Holy Friday, by a general conspiracy - as a form of protest against the new faith, 1,920 people burned down. In connection with the frequent "fumes" among the schismatics, the government took measures to find them. In response, the schismatics began to leave their homes and leave for the northern and Siberian regions. This situation was one of the reasons for the spread of mental epidemics of self-destruction from the center of Russia to its outskirts.
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Tens of thousands of people have died as a result of psychic contagions of this kind. Similarly to self-immolations, especially in the Siberian regions, self-destruction of the type of mental epidemics by means of "starvation and self-drowning", as well as self- and mutual harm, as manifestations of aggression, were observed in Russia.
One of the reasons for the emergence, and most importantly the imitative spread of self-immolations, based on fanatical belief in previous religious views, which was supported by animal fear for their future, was the execution of Archpriest Avvakum. It followed on April 1, 1681, near Astrakhan, where the archpriest “together with his brothers” was burned by order of the civil authorities because of disobedience to the “command of the church” to accept the new faith. The constant emotional stress among the Old Believers, supported by their adherents and the fear of converting to a new faith in connection with possible misfortunes, to a certain extent narrowed the consciousness of these people, being one of the leading reasons for the self-destruction of the schismatics. In the cases under consideration, the pathological manifestation of behavior in the form of suicide under external influence based on the personal susceptibility of psychological influence was, to a certain extent, conditioned by the same long ritual services with frequent sleep deprivation and constant fatigue.
Over the course of time, the Old Believers disintegrated into various sectarian branches, including the flock and the Khlysty. At the same time, the emerging worldview again caused mental epidemics, accompanied by self-destruction, as well as self-and mutual damage, not only of the bodily, but also of the spiritual order. As pointed out by IM Balinsky, “Gross ignorance is the basis for the cultivation of false teachings, ridiculous ideas and fantastic delusions that contradict the innate instinct of self-preservation” (quoted by AM Shereshevsky).
As can be seen in the process of the historical development of the Russian state, accompanied by the changing socio-economic relations in society, the types of mental contagions were transformed. Initially, they manifested themselves mainly by hysteria, and then by formidable processes associated not only with self- and mutual damage, but also with self-destruction. Their study in retrospect will contribute to further research into the historical foundations of Russian psychiatry.