Theomania is excessive religious or devotional fervour; a person reaches a state of frenzy, as if seized by a deity. It often manifests in physical symptoms and unusual phenomena, such as convulsions, hysterical contortions of the limbs, immunity to pain, gifts of healing, apparent clairvoyance, and "speaking in tongues".
Theomania reached epidemic proportions in mediaeval Europe among the flagellants of Germany, Poland and Hungary who lashed themselves and others in penance for their sins; it was seen in the 14th century among those in Holland, Belgium and Germany who were stricken with dancing mania, and was also manifest in 17th century England by the Shakers, early Quakers, Methodists, Revivalists, Pentecostalists, Adventists, and Messianists.