Few topics in the world of psychoanalysis are as controversial as hysteria. There is no current consensus on whether or not hysteria exists today or whether or not it ever existed at any time at all. Explaining exactly what hysteria is and what it means has challenged and baffled many generations of physicians.
As an illness, hysteria has been associated with women even though male sufferers were at one time identified and discussed. It is commonly assumed that Hippocrates first used hysteria as a general descriptive term for the aliments of the womb. The word hysteria itself is derived from the Greek word for the uterus. There is also evidence that an identifiably corresponding disease is mentioned in ancient Egyptian manuscripts that predate the general Greek term by at least several centuries.
The problem with trying to apply hysteria in historical and cultural contexts is that the term refers to both an illness characterized by strange symptoms as well as to certain disturbing...
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Suggested Reading
Borossa, J. (2001). Hysteria. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Totem Books.
Micale, M. (1995). Approaching hysteria: Disease and its interpretations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Micklem, N. (1995). The nature of hysteria. London and New York: Routledge.
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© 2004 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
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Hernandez, R. (2004). Hysteria. In: Encyclopedia of Women’s Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48113-0_210
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48113-0_210
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