What the heck is hysteria?

Download or read book What the heck is hysteria? written by Claudio J. Chiabai and published by Claudio J. Chiabai. This book was released on with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hysteria is a disease already forgotten by medicine, which, in spite of this, is still very much in vogue. Its name in various academic circles and, especially, in psychoanalytic circles. However, what is today referred to as hysteria is not hysteria, and what is hysteria does not have that name. This book aims to show the form that hysteria actually took before its disappearance in the twentieth century. It aims to answer a simple question. It aims to answer a simple question: What did what was called hysteria for so many centuries look like? What characteristics did it have that identified it from other ailments? How was it dealt with? What was the cause of it? To answer these and other questions, this book makes a historical journey from the first ideas about hysteria, from the first centuries of medicine to the latest conception of it settled in the famous manual of mental disorders, the DSM. This journey is made with emphasis on the second half of the 19th century, the golden age for hysteria and the intellectual environment from which Sigmund Freud and, therefore, his creation, Psychoanalysis, drew nourishment. As happens with any look into the past, many myths become evident as such and, at the same time, are dissolved by looking at the historical facts that involve them. For example, one can see how the idea that hysterical patients were despised by physicians as simulators is false. Or, it can be seen that Freud was never the first to listen to these supposed patients ignored by physicians or that he was not the first or the only one to consider sexuality to explain hysteria. These and many other myths, such as that patients were treated by provoking them to orgasm, are easily debunked in this book. This book is obviously addressed to anyone interested in knowing, with accuracy and detail, what hysteria consisted of, as well as to those interested in seeing the reality behind the mythical foundations of Psychoanalysis, since it was born out of hysteria and to which it dedicated its existence. In short, this book is a modern treatise on hysteria, intended to answer a simple answer to a simple but complex question: What the heck is hysteria?