Back هستيريا النساء Arabic Histeria femenina AST Histèria femenina Catalan Histeria femenina Spanish Histeria feminina GL היסטריה נשית HE स्त्री हिस्टीरिया HI Histeria perempuan ID Storia dell'isteria Italian Histeria feminina Portuguese
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| Female hysteria | |
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| Women with hysteria under the effects of hypnosis, 1876–1880 | |
| Specialty | Psychiatry |
Female hysteria was once a common medical diagnosis for women. It was described as exhibiting a wide array of symptoms, including anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, nervousness, exaggerated and impulsive sexual desire, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in the abdomen, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, sexually impulsive behavior, and a "tendency to cause trouble for others".[1] It is no longer recognized by medical authorities as a medical disorder. Its diagnosis and treatment were routine for hundreds of years in Western Europe.[1]
In extreme cases, the woman may have been forced to enter an insane asylum or to undergo surgical hysterectomy.[2]
In Western medicine, hysteria was considered both common and chronic among women. Though it was categorized as a disease at the time, modern day analyses suggest that hysteria's symptoms can be explained by the normal fluctuations of women's sexuality.[1][3]
- ^ a b c Maines, Rachel P. (1999). The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria", the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 23. ISBN 0-8018-6646-4.
- ^ Mankiller, Wilma P. (1998). The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 26. ISBN 0-618-00182-4.
- ^ Lunbeck, Elizabeth (11 May 2021), "Hysteria: The Revolt of the "Good Girl"", The Psychiatric Persuasion, Princeton University Press, pp. 209–228, doi:10.2307/j.ctv1h9dgrh.15, retrieved 6 November 2023