Many of the symptoms experienced were stress-induced due to various external factors. The stress and anxiety that provokes mass hysteria outbreaks are reactions to perceived threats, cultural transitions, instances of uncertainty, and social stressors. Due to the majority of the population affected by this epidemic being young and adolescent children, the outbreak has been attributed to the young not having the appropriate coping skills to manage such stresses and anxieties. Coinciding with this, adolescents have a need for acceptance and are eager to blend into a group, making them vulnerable to influence contagion.

In 1962, Tanganyika had just won its independence, [linguist Christian F. Hempelmann] said, and students had reported feeling stressed because of higher expectations by teachers and parents. Mass Psychogenic Illness (MPI), he says, usually occurs in people without a lot of power. “MPI is a last resort for people of a low status. It’s an easy way for them to express that something is wrong.”