"This persistent direction of the attention has a much greater potency when combined with the expectation of a particular result É" (Yawger, 1936, quoting Carpenter)
"Carpenter, quoting Carter, an authority on hysteria, described the case of a young woman who saw her son accidentally lose three fingers; she was so overcome that she could not render assistance. A surgeon, who had responded promptly, turned to find the mother moaning and complaining of pain in her hand. Examination disclosed that the three corresponding fingers of her own hand, which had previously been normal, were swollen and inflamed. In twenty-four hours pus was evacuated, and the wound ultimately healed." (Yawger, 1936, p. 877)
"Anxiety is awakened; his mind becomes filled with pictures of death; he cannot sleep; his spirits sink; his appetite fails; and the effects of his imaginary fears become the real causes of the evil he deprecates. Finding his health and strength affected by these natural but unperceived causes, he considers his fate inevitable; refuses all nourishment, as unnecessary and unavailing; pines, languishes, and dies beneath the influences of his own ignorance and superstition." (Stewart, 1828, p. 265)
"... Many instances are at hand of sudden death from fright, sight of blood, hypodermic injections, or from sudden immersion in water.
"During the war a considerable number of unaccountable deaths were reported among soldiers in the armed forces in this country. These men died when they apparently were in good health. At autopsy no pathology could be observed." (Moritz & Zamchek, 1946, p. 459)
"Of interest here also is that, according to Dr. R.S. Fisher, Coroner of the City of Baltimore, a number of individuals die each year after taking small, definitely sublethal doses of poison, or after inflicting small, nonlethal wounds on themselves; apparently they die as a result of the belief in their doom." (Richter, 1957, p. 198)
"In this connection, however, it cannot be too strongly insisted upon that it is of paramount importance to be able to determine whether the bite is due to a harmless or a poisonous snake, since it is well known that many persons have died from fright after having been bitten by a harmless or a non-lethal snake." (Yawger, 1936, p. 877, quoting Buddle)
"That the attitude of the patient is of significant importance for a favorable outcome of an operation is firmly believed by the well-known American surgeon, Dr. J.M.T. Finney, for many years Professor of Surgery at the Johns Hopkins Medical School. He (Finney, 1934, p. 746) has publicly testified, on the basis of serious experiences, that if any person came to him for a major operation, and expressed fear of the result, he invariably refused to operate. Some other surgeon must assume the risk!" (Cannon, 1957, p. 189)
"... It is now realized that under certain conditions a strong emotion can inflict a physical trauma (injury) just as directly as can a knife." (Yawger, 1936, p. 878, quoting Emerson)
"An iron molder and the president of a local chauffers' union were being initiated into the Order of the Moose. After they had been blindfolded and their chests were made bare, it was dreadfully announced that they were to be branded. A metal emblem to which a wire was attached was applied to each man's chest and on receiving the customary schock both collapsed with fright and the lodge physician was unable to revive them." (Yawger, 1936, p. 876)
"I have in mind a case of which I had knowledge many years ago, that of a young man who was training to be a champion boxer. He was a magnificent specimen of manhood and was not lacking in courage. Two days before his expected match he had a slight hemorrhage from the lungs, and, as there had been cases of tuberculosis in his family, he sent for a physician, who happened to be I.
"There were rales in his chest, but I could find nothing marked. I told him to stay in bed and keep quiet. As I was leaving the house the mother told me that the parish priest was coming and suggested that, as the young man had not been attending to his church duties for some time, it would be well for the priest to see him. Fearing that the patient might be frightened by the advent of the priest or his attempt to perform in a religious way, I cautioned the mother, but, nevertheless, the priest saw the boy and ill-advisedly, in my opinion, administered the last rites. This was at 3 p.m. The young man was terribly alarmed, and by 6 p. m. he was dead. The cause of death I do not know. É I have always thought that, as the boy was afraid to die, aggravated fear when he was shrived so unexpectedly caused his death." (Yawger, 1936, p. 879, comment of Dr. J.W. McConnel)
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine Europeans out of a thousand would define this special characteristic (psychogenic death amongst primitive peoples, A.d.V.) as due to pure obstinacy or sheer superstition; but the European, as invariably where natural man is concerned, is mistaken. What to his (the European's, A.d.V.) artificial mind appears as mere obstinacy - the result of sheer stupid ignorance - is due, not to any special fixity of opinion or unyielding resolution, but to a mental tendency that is constantly producing and reproducing itself in phantasmal impressions, which, although they are subjective, convey to the mind of natural man an objective reality." (Leonard, 1906, p. 256)
"Having given this explanation, we lean back in the armchairs of scientific knowledge very contented with ourselves. The native dies by faith, a faith which to him is the realization of a spiritual reality. Does our explanation cover this reality or does it merely describe a few of the elements or constituent parts of the spiritual perception? Is not the psychological state of this native, as well as many mental phenomena functioning outside the respected and limited categories of science, a challenge to us to extend the boundaries of our scientific fields and include in the study of the living the mysteries of death?" (Laubscher, 1951, p. 105)
And, all too often, the prisoner lost even his will to live. He would crawl off in a corner, refuse to eat, and - without having any disease whatever - simply die." (Mayer, 1956)
Cannon, W., B. (1957). ÔVoodoo' Death. Psychosomatic Medicine, 19(3), 182-190.
Finney, J. M. T. (1934). Discussion of papers on shock. Annals of Surgery, 100, 746.
Laubscher, B. J. F. (1951). Sex, Custom and Psychopathology. (2. printing ed.). London: G. Routledge & Sons.
Leonard, A. G. (1906). The Lower Niger And Its Tribes. London: Macmillan and co., limited.
Mayer, W. E. (1956). Why did many G.I. captives cave in? U.S. News and World Report, 40, 56-72.
Moritz, A. R., & Zamchek, N. (1946). Sudden unexpected deaths of young soldiers. Archiv. Path., 42, 459.
Richter, C. P. (1957). On the Phenomenon of Sudden Death in Animals and Man. Psychosomatic Medicine, 19(3), 191-198.
Stewart, C. S. (1828). Journal Of A Residence In The Sandwich Islands During The Years 1823, 1824 and 1825. (2. printing ed.). London.
Yawger, N. S. (1936). Emotions as the cause of rapid and sudden death. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 36, 875-879.
(Last revision: 08. August 2000)