Authorities from the Department of Education (DepEd) are investigating Mass Psychogenic Illness as the possible cause behind the incident at Balubal National High School in Cagayan de Oro City, where 26 female students collapsed during the flag-raising ceremony and during class on Monday morning, August 11, prompting the suspension of classes in the afternoon. According to radio reports, one student was brought to Sabal Puerto Hospital, while the rest received care at the Barangay Health Center. All have since returned home and are in stable condition. The school will remain closed on Tuesday reportedly for “cleansing and prayer.”
According to sources in the internet, Mass Psychogenic Illness (MPI), sometimes called mass hysteria or mass sociogenic illness, is a phenomenon where a group of people suddenly experience similar physical symptoms without an identifiable physical or environmental cause. Symptoms can include headaches, dizziness, fainting, nausea, or even strange behavior, but medical tests show no organic illness. Instead, the symptoms spread through suggestion, fear, and social influence, not through a virus or toxin.
Watch Balubal Barangay Chair Pablo Bactong interview below.
