Hysteria

“In the beginning was Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, who freed the emerging science from the chains of superstition, introduced empirical observation and the bedside manner, and both identified and named ‘hysteria’” (Gilman 1993, 3). Hippocrates, lived in ancient Greece from 460 BCE to 377 BCE, the first [known] person to study hysterical actions believed (as did the proceding Greeks and Romans) that hysteria was strictly a female problem, and in many cases almost any problem a female had was considered ‘hysteria’ (Gilman 1993, 4). This view was believed for an extensive period of time but as Appignanesi asserts many other things that were once believed to be true are proven false later, i.e., the earth is the center of the universe [Copernicus, 1473-1543], God did not create man, instead we evolved from apes [Darwin, 1809-1882] (100). This holds true for the concept of hysteria being strictly a female problem.

Hysteria (as we know it today at least) is where specific memories, feelings, perceptions are taken from the conscious to the un/sub-conscious and are ‘unable’ to be recalled voluntarily. Furthermore they are able to affect the persons behavior in a variety of ways, from phobias to paralysis. Almost any organ or part of the body can be the scapegoat for the hysteric. Hysteria usually comes from feelings or memories which are particularly unpleasant for one reason or another. Freud would argue that more often then not (if not always) hysteria is related to sex or sexuality.

If there was one person to name as the ‘father’ of the modern view of hysteria it would hands down be Sigmund Freud. His analyses of hysterical persons has defined everything from the process of diving into the un/sub-conscious mind to retrieve the root of the problem to connecting the problem to the symptoms of hysteria. One of most widely known case studies is that of a young lady whom Freud has given the alias of ‘Dora’. Dora first met Freud at the age of 16 when her father brought her to Freud because she “…had…grown unmistakably neurotic.” (Freud, 13). Two years proceeding their [Freud and Dora] first introduction her father brought her to Freud for “…psychotherapeutic treatment.” (Freud, 13) Freud had met most of Dora’s family prior to her ‘treatment’ and stated that “There could be no doubt…that it was from...

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...to pin point one distinct cause of hysteria but instead many different aspects of the hysterics life plays a part in the overall hysteria. Freud revolutionized the psychological world in many ways, his work on hysteria is perhaps some of his best. He molded a strong base to which modern knowledge of hysteria is accumulated upon. From Hippocrates to Freud the knowledge of hysteria has been on quite a voyage, and like most other ideas has changed drastically over time, and will continue to change.

Works cited

Appignanesi, Richard. Freud For Beginners. New York: Pantheon Books,

1979.

Freud, Sigmund. DORA: An Analysis Case Of Hysteria. New York Simon &

Schuster, Inc., 1963.

Gilman, Sander L. and King, Helen. and Porter, Roy. and Rousseau, G.S. and

Showalter, Elaine. Hysteria Beyond Freud. London: University of

California Press, 1993.

Jung, C.G. The Basic Writings of C.G. Jung. New York: Random House, Inc.,

1993.

Wortman, Camille B. and Loftus, Elizabeth F. and Marshall, Mary E.

Psychology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1985.