![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 23 of 23. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by rjlockhart on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
I read some on this but didnt knew what it ment.
Is this some disorder?
Posted by ed_uk on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
In reply to What is Hysteria?, posted by rjlockhart on January 2, 2006, at 13:55:09
Hysteria is a very old-fashioned term with MANY different definitions. Because of this, it's no longer a useful word!
Ed
Posted by Declan on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria? » rjlockhart, posted by ed_uk on January 2, 2006, at 13:56:55
You know the idea that patterns of mental problems change over time in accord with the structure of society? Maybe hysteria demanded a stable duty driven rigid culture. All those teenagers hung by all sides for cowardice in WW1 are a background to the conversion reactions that other soldiers experienced. Maybe you can't have hysteria in a shameless narcissistic culture?
Declan
Posted by Larry Hoover on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
In reply to What is Hysteria?, posted by rjlockhart on January 2, 2006, at 13:55:09
> I read some on this but didnt knew what it ment.
>
> Is this some disorder?It literally refers to a medical syndrome arising from possessing a uterus. As ed says, it's fallen out of favour, for a number of reasons.
hyster-ectomy means uterus removal
hyster-ical means a misogynistic characterization of female behaviourLar
Posted by Racer on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria? » rjlockhart, posted by Larry Hoover on January 2, 2006, at 15:33:42
Posted by med_empowered on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria? » rjlockhart, posted by Larry Hoover on January 2, 2006, at 15:33:42
yup. Hysteria is a conceptualization of erratic female behavior that goes back a long way. In the early 1900s, some docs were doing hysterectomies to "cure" this disorder (they were also removing teeth, since decaying teeth could apparently cause mental illness as well). Now that they got rid of hysteria, there's Borderline Personality Disorder, which my friends and I sometimes call "CWF"--Crazy While Female (80% of borderline people are female).
Posted by holymama on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria?, posted by med_empowered on January 2, 2006, at 18:21:50
This is all true, if you are considering the historical definition of hysteria.
But I think Matt, that what you are asking, is what you suffer from is 'hysteria'? This is the same as me asking: am I suffering from a 'nervous breakdown', when there is no real psychiatric term or diagnosis called 'nervous breakdown'.
We all know, however, what it feels like to be 'hysterical' or to be having a 'nervous breakdown'. No, they are not diagnoses in the DSM. But they are real ways to describe what we are feeling. People have been using these terms for centuries. They describe my expreiences of mental illness as well as they did hundreds of years ago. But no, they are not 'official' DSM diagnoses.
Matt, it seems that you ask a lot of questions about diagnoses. Do you have a copy of the DSM? I think you would find it very useful and interesting. Maybe you could get a copy from the library or even better, order one from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0890420254/drbobsvirte00-20 It has ALL of the psychiatric diagnoses in it that a psychiatrist would use and it makes for some very interesting reading if you are wondering about the span of psychiatric illnesses.~~Autumn~~
Posted by yxibow on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
In reply to What is Hysteria?, posted by rjlockhart on January 2, 2006, at 13:55:09
> I read some on this but didnt knew what it ment.
>
> Is this some disorder?
>
>Like the previous posters, it basically means maddening anxiety with lots of screaming and tears and the like. It is a very mysogenistic (abusive of the female gender) word and is certainly not used clinically in western societies today.
Etymologically, from OED:
hysteric, a. and n.
[ad. L. hysteric-us, ad. Gr. belonging to the womb, suffering in the womb, hysterical (f. womb), esp. in hysterica passio]Of course it can also be used mostly "positively" in the term hysterical (e.g. that movie was so hysterical it made me laugh out of my chair).
-tidings
Posted by Phillipa on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:14
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria?, posted by holymama on January 2, 2006, at 18:45:48
Sometimes people use the word hysterical in reference to laughter too. Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by rjlockhart on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:15
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria? » rjlockhart, posted by yxibow on January 2, 2006, at 18:56:04
Posted by rjlockhart on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:15
In reply to Re: ROFL Im putting my head in the toilet! (nm), posted by rjlockhart on January 2, 2006, at 19:01:14
Posted by rjlockhart on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:15
In reply to Re: i was like N-A-S-T-Y Larry stop it! (nm), posted by rjlockhart on January 2, 2006, at 19:04:51
i went manic. Sorry i say crazy things when i do.
Sometimes i want to order Zyprexa 20mg online.
ROFL
Posted by rjlockhart on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:15
In reply to ok i went way too far... i didnt mean that...., posted by rjlockhart on January 2, 2006, at 20:03:54
Posted by Larry Hoover on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:15
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria?, posted by med_empowered on January 2, 2006, at 18:21:50
> yup. Hysteria is a conceptualization of erratic female behavior that goes back a long way. In the early 1900s, some docs were doing hysterectomies to "cure" this disorder (they were also removing teeth, since decaying teeth could apparently cause mental illness as well). Now that they got rid of hysteria, there's Borderline Personality Disorder, which my friends and I sometimes call "CWF"--Crazy While Female (80% of borderline people are female).
I looked at the English etymology, and it seems the noun form was first used in 1801, and was defined precisely as: "A neurotic condition peculiar to women and thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the uterus."
I thought there was a misogynistic slant to the etymology of lunacy/lunatic, but I can't find it. I thought it was more than allegory to link moon and menses. Anybody know for sure? The original Latin is moon-struck. Hmmm.
Lar
Posted by Declan on January 3, 2006, at 0:19:15
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria?, posted by med_empowered on January 2, 2006, at 18:21:50
It does go back a bit.
From 'A Brief Discourse of a Disease called a Suffocation of the Mother'(1605):
This disease is called by diverse names amongst our authors, Passio Hysterica, Suffocatio, Priefocatio, and Strangulatus Uteri, Caducus Matricus ie in English the Mother or The Suffocation of the Mother, because most commonly, it takes them with choking in the throat; and it is an affect of the mother or wombe, wherein the principal parts of the bodie by consent do suffer diversely according to the diversitie of the causes and diseases wherewith the matrix is offended.Declan
Posted by sleepygirl on January 3, 2006, at 16:45:21
In reply to Re: ok i AM putting my head in toilet now... (nm), posted by rjlockhart on January 2, 2006, at 20:08:28
Posted by thuso on January 3, 2006, at 16:47:30
In reply to What is Hysteria?, posted by rjlockhart on January 2, 2006, at 13:55:09
> Matt, it seems that you ask a lot of questions about diagnoses. Do you have a copy of the DSM? I think you would find it very useful and interesting. Maybe you could get a copy from the library or even better, order one from Amazon:
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0890420254/drbobsvirte00-20 It has ALL of the psychiatric diagnoses in it that a psychiatrist would use and it makes for some very interesting reading if you are wondering about the span of psychiatric illnesses.
>
> ~~Autumn~~If you want to see the DSM...a great website is:
More information there than you'll know what to do with! :-)
Posted by Declan on January 4, 2006, at 1:08:22
In reply to Re: What is Hysteria?, posted by Declan on January 2, 2006, at 20:46:58
"Wherein the principal parts of the bodie by consent do suffer diversely according to the diversitie of the causes and diseases wherewith the matrix is offended."
Let us avoid the boundless condescension of the present toward the past. Where in the DSMIV is there anything to equal the style and wisdom of that?
Declan
Posted by alesta on January 4, 2006, at 13:56:25
In reply to Hysteria and History, posted by Declan on January 4, 2006, at 1:08:22
> "Wherein the principal parts of the bodie by consent do suffer diversely according to the diversitie of the causes and diseases wherewith the matrix is offended."
>
> Let us avoid the boundless condescension of the present toward the past. Where in the DSMIV is there anything to equal the style and wisdom of that?
>
> Declanhi declan :)
i was browsing the meds board and noticed a note of yours concerning this board...please don't feel like a stranger here..even if ppl don't always reply, i'm sure that many more read your posts than you realize. that's something i've discovered about this place. sometimes ppl just *don't know what to say*..or don't have time to read into a post well enough to respond. keep posting dude...your presence is welcome here...we have all types...and i do hope everyone will feel free to be themselves...all too often i sense many ppl here trying to be more intellectual, or more fun, or whatever..and it frustrates me on some level. that's not what this place should be. you are a thinker type, declan...and i sense that there are a lot of intuitive feelers here..or other types aside from intuitive thinkers. so at times you may find less ppl responding to your particular posts, declan...but thinkers are viewed with respect here, i've noticed, while sometimes feelers do not realize the beauty they also possess in themselves...for instance, the myers-briggs NF, in their extraordinary quest to become somebody..sorry to ramble, and probably incoherently so..lol. your post sort of got me yacking...lol. just disregard the last part lol..i don't need a reply to all this drivel that is probably a pain in the #ss to read anyhoo...:) that's my 'digression' for 2006...yeah...2000 6!
alesta:)
Posted by alesta on January 4, 2006, at 14:01:05
In reply to Re: Hysteria and History, digression... » Declan, posted by alesta on January 4, 2006, at 13:56:25
don't anybody take anything i said too seriously...i'm going through a weird phase..which involves a lot of intuitively reading ppl...something i cannot explain...so i'll try to keep that stuff under wraps...for my own good.:)
love alesta
Posted by Declan on January 5, 2006, at 1:26:30
In reply to Re: Hysteria and History, digression... » Declan, posted by alesta on January 4, 2006, at 13:56:25
Hey Alesta, you're just too sweet. Thankyou very much and I'm glad your matrix is not as offended as mine.
Declan
Posted by alesta on January 5, 2006, at 7:54:56
In reply to Re: Hysteria and History, digression... » alesta, posted by Declan on January 5, 2006, at 1:26:30
thanks, declan. :) you're a sweetheart, too. interesting comment to ponder when i'm feeling better...had a ***bad*** morning. i can't even explain it.:) but i'm shaking right now..
to anyone who read my post, i'm thinking maybe i shouldn't have written that...i'm sorry.:( really...sometimes i talk without thinking. please accept my apology if that sounded offensive or anything. i'm going through so much right now and maybe should just hold off on posting until i get it together. i think you guys are so wonderful. and i consider many of you to be my friends.:) i hope this is coming out right...i am beyond stressed right now and starting to not cope so well..
love to all,
amy
Posted by zeugma on January 5, 2006, at 21:27:30
In reply to thanks, and i'm sorry.., posted by alesta on January 5, 2006, at 7:54:56
> thanks, declan. :) you're a sweetheart, too. interesting comment to ponder when i'm feeling better...had a ***bad*** morning. i can't even explain it.:) but i'm shaking right now..
amy, i am so sorry. you are being pushed so hard. what is doing the pushing?
>
> to anyone who read my post, i'm thinking maybe i shouldn't have written that...i'm sorry.:( really...sometimes i talk without thinking. please accept my apology if that sounded offensive or anything. i'm going through so much right now and maybe should just hold off on posting until i get it together. i think you guys are so wonderful. and i consider many of you to be my friends.:) i hope this is coming out right...i am beyond stressed right now and starting to not cope so well..
>
> love to all,
> amy
>
amy, it breaks my heart to read what you are going throughi can assure you declan is your friend
so am i
-z
>
>
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Social | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.