on spreading behavior

The history of [female bulimia] suggests that, in a mass society such as that of the United States, various widespread disorders may exist “underground” as long as they do not catch the public eye, so that when they are “discovered” they constitute an epidemic, a national problem, a newsworthy event. This is related to the way in which news is produced, as well as to the manner in which pathological behaviors of individuals, given appropriate publicity, can serve as models for other.

- Erika Bourguignon, pg. 373 "Multiple personality, possession trance, and the psychic unity of mankind," Ethos vol. 17, issue 3, 1989