A New Way to Be Mad

Authors
Carl Elliott

Source
The Atlantic Monthly Online, December 2000.

Abstract
The phenomenon is not as rare as one might think: healthy people deliberately setting out to rid themselves of one or more of their limbs, with or without a surgeon's help. Why do pathologies sometimes arise as if from nowhere? Can the mere description of a condition make it contagious?

Analysis
An opinion on the concept of "contagion": Coming out of the woodwork?