Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America

by Jane Borden

Stop the Steal marchers in 2021 may have also been experiencing folie à groupe, aka shared psychosis. Be careful to whom you listen, because pathological symptoms are literally contagious. They spread just like viruses except through emotional bonds, which I guess makes emotional bonds the bodily fluids of the mind. According to forensic psychologist Dr. Bandy X. Lee, three conditions are necessary for infection: an influential figure who is suffering from severe pathology, high emotional investment among group members, and an environment that fosters contagion. Mental symptoms most commonly go viral in isolated settings (think hospitals, prisons, households, and gangs). The most common symptoms to transmit are delusions of persecution or general paranoia—both of which are hallmarks of isolated apocalyptic groups.