Epidemic Psychological Disturbance in a Malawian Secondary School: A Case Study in Social Change MALCOLM MACLACHLAN University of Malawi, Malawi DIXIE MALUWA BANDA University of Malawi, Malawi EILISH Mc AULIFFE University of Malawi, Malawi We describe a case of Epidemic Psychological Disturbance (EPD) involving 1 10 pupils at a Catholic Girls Secondary School in Malawi. The EPD ’syndrome’ included ’outward’ behaviours (screaming, continuous laughing, crying loudly, falling down and rolling, violently threatening classmates, speaking gibberish) and ’inward’ behaviours (refusing to eat, withdrawal, hallucinating, hypersensitivity to noise, and headache at the base of the skull). These problems disappeared when most of the affected pupils were sent home. We consider a number of possible causes for this case of EPD, including physical, psychological, traditional, institutional, and political factors. It is suggested that the present case of EPD can be interpreted as reflecting a defence and protest against certain aspects of the rapid social and political changes which Malawi has witnessed over the past few years. 7be term epidemic psychological disturbance refers to a sociocultural-psychological phenomenon in which a group of Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Malcolm MacLachlan, Department of Psychology, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, P.O. Box 280, Zomba, Malawi, Africa. at SAGE Publications on December 7, 2012 pds.sagepub.com Downloaded from