Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T19:21:27.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Social Setting of Hysteria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Richard Mayou
Richard Mayou*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Headington, Oxford
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Previous reviews of hysteria have emphasized the most severe and disabling forms and ignored evidence from a wide variety of sources. It is argued that hysteria is more prevalent in medical settings than is usually recognized, that the same psychological mechanisms are of wide occurrence, often being accepted as normal for the culture. Discussion of the social factors affecting prevalence suggests that there is a universal potential for the hysterical reaction, with individual variation in susceptibility in appropriate circumstances.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 127 , Issue 5 , November 1975 , pp. 466 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carter, A. B. (1972) A physician's view of hysteria. British Medical Journal, i, 1241–3.Google ScholarPubMed
Chodoff, P. (1974) The diagnosis of hysteria: an overview. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 1013–18.Google ScholarPubMed
Cohn, N. (1957) The Pursuit of the Millenium. London.Google Scholar
Dodds, E. R. (1951) The Greeks and the Irrational. California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1937) Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic amongst the Azande. Oxford.Google Scholar
Freedman, A. H. & Kaplan, M. I. (1967) Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. Baltimore.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, E. H. (1974) The changing content of psychiatric illness. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 18, 283–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hecker, J. F. C. (1949) Epidemics of the Middle Ages. London.Google Scholar
Hill, C. (1972) The World Turned Upside Down. London.Google Scholar
Lader, M. (1973) Psychophysiology of hysterics. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 17, 265–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lambo, (1960) Further neuropsychiatric observations in Nigeria. British Medical Journal, ii, 1696–1704.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewis, I. M. (1969) Some strategies of non physical aggression in other cultures. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 13, 221–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loudon, J. B. & Rawnsley, K. (1964) Epidemiology of mental disorder in a closed community. British Journal of Psychiatry, 110, 830–9.Google Scholar
McEvedy, C. P. & Beard, A. W. (1973) A controlled follow-up of cases involved in an epidemic of benign myalgic encephalomyelitis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 141–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meares, R. & Horvath, T. (1972) Acute and chronic hysteria. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 653–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moss, P. D. & McEvedy, C. P. (1960) An epidemic of overbreathing among schoolgirls. British Medical Journal, ii, 1295–1300.Google Scholar
Murphy, H. B. M. (1973) History and the evolution of syndromes: the striking case of Latah and Amok. In Psychopathology: Contributions from Social, Behavioural and Biological Science (eds. Hammer, M., Salzinger, K. and Sutton, S.). New York.Google Scholar
Penrose, L. (1952) On the Objective Study of Crowd Behaviour. London.Google Scholar
Sargant, W. (1957) Battle for the Mind. London.Google Scholar
Slater, E. (1965) Diagnosis of hysteria. British Medical Journal, i, 1395–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, K. V. (1971) Religion and the Decline of Magic. London.Google Scholar
Trevor-Roper, H. (1967) The European witch craze of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. In Religion, the Reformation and Social Change. London.Google Scholar
Worsley, P. (1957) The Trumpet Shall Sound. London.Google Scholar
Woodruff, R. A., Clayton, P. J. & Guze, S. B. (1971) Hysteria: studies of diagnosis, outcome and prevalence. Journal of the American Medical Association, 215, 425–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Yap, P. M. (1960) Possession syndrome: a comparison of Hong Kong and French findings. British Journal of Psychiatry, 110, 114–37.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.