collective hysterical disorder

Dance Mania
Dancing mania
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"Dancing mania" is derived from the term "choreomania", from the Greek choros (dance) and mania (madness),[2]:133–4 and is also known as "dancing plague."[3]:125 The term was coined by Paracelsus,[3]:126 and the condition was initially considered a curse sent by a saint,[4] usually St. John the Baptist[5]:32 or St. Vitus, and was therefore known as "St. Vitus's Dance" or "St. John's Dance". Victims of dancing mania often ended their processions at places dedicated to that saint,[2]:136 who was prayed to in an effort to end the dancing;[3]:126 incidents often broke out around the time of the feast of St. Vitus.[6]:201

St. Vitus's Dance was diagnosed, in the 17th century, as Sydenham chorea.[7] Dancing mania has also been known as epidemic chorea[3]:125 and epidemic dancing.[4] A disease of the nervous system, chorea is characterized by symptoms resembling those of dancing mania,[2]:134 which has also rather unconvincingly been considered a form of epilepsy.[5]:32 Scientists have described dancing mania as a "collective mental disorder," "collective hysterical disorder," and "mass madness."[2]:136