April 5, 2007


Hatfield-McCoy-ism

The most infamous feud in American folklore, the long-running battle between the Hatfields and McCoys, may be partly explained by a rare, inherited disease that can lead to hair-trigger rage and violent outbursts.

Dozens of McCoy descendants apparently have the disease, which causes high blood pressure, racing hearts, severe headaches and too much adrenaline and other “fight or flight” stress hormones.

No one blames the whole feud on this, but doctors say it could help explain some of the clan’s notorious behavior.

“This condition can certainly make anybody short-tempered, and if they are prone because of their personality, it can add fuel to the fire,” said Dr. Revi Mathew, a Vanderbilt University endocrinologist treating one of the family members.

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posted by Deron Bauman in health, history 

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One Response to “Hatfield-McCoy-ism”

  1. L K Tucker on April 7th, 2007 at 6:19 pm

    This problem does not explain everything. The medical condition is reputed to cause rage. It would not cause paranoia that directed that rage to neighbors.

    There is a problem of physiology that would have caused both rage and paranoia, Subliminal Distraction.

    This phenomenon was discovered when it caused mental breaks for office workers in the 1960’s. They were using prototypes of close-spaced workstations. The cubicle solved that problem.

    The small dog-trot, shotgun, or log cabins would have provided the close spacing of family members and the opportunity for exposure from Subliminal Distraction if one member created the “special circumstances.” Those are eyes-open concentration to the level of slight dissociation while there was repeating detectable movement in peripheral vision.

    There have been mental breaks and sudden violence on scientific expeditions for over a hundred years. There is a case of an ax murder over a chess game on a Russian Antarctic station. During the 1830’s mountain men lived alone in small cabins rather than risk that a cabin-mate would have a sudden berserk episode and try to kill them. It was called Cabin Fever.

    All these examples happen when two or more people attempt to live and work in too-small single-room arrangements.