Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T01:26:28.845Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observations on the Evolution of the Hysterical Symptomatology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

C. N. Stefanis ,
M. P. Markidis  and
G. N. Christodoulou
C. N. Stefanis
Affiliation:
Athens University Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, 74 Vasilissis Sophias Avenue, Athens, Greece
M. P. Markidis
Affiliation:
Athens University Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, 74 Vasilissis Sophias Avenue, Athens, Greece
G. N. Christodoulou
Affiliation:
Athens University Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, 74 Vasilissis Sophias Avenue, Athens, Greece
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A retrospective study of the records of 17,571 psychiatric patients who attended the out-patients department of Eginition Hospital in Athens during three two-year periods (1948–50, 1958–60 and 1969–71) revealed a statistically significant decrease in the frequency of patients diagnosed as suffering from hysteria, a statistically significant decrease in the relative frequency of patients with hysterical fits and with mental conversion symptoms, and a statistically significant increase in the relative frequency of patients with mixed conversion symptoms. The findings confirm the notion that hysteria is still a ‘woman's disease’, although a statistically significant increase in male participation was noted. The significance of the above findings for the understanding of certain aspects of hysteria is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 128 , Issue 3 , March 1976 , pp. 269 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

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

Abse, D. W. (1966) Hysteria and Related Menial Disorders. Bristol.Google Scholar
Alarcon, R. D. (1973) Hysteria and hysterical personality: how come one without the other? Psychiat. Quart., 47, 258—75.Google Scholar
Alexander, F. (1943) Fundamental concepts of psychosomatic research: psychogenesis, conversion, specificity. Psychosom. Med., 5, 205—10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bedford, G. S. (1872) Clinical Lectures on the Diseases of Women and Children. New York.Google Scholar
Campbell, W. (1883) Introduction to the Study and Practice of Midwifery and the Diseases of Women and Children. Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Chodoff, P. & Lyons, H. (1958) Hysteria, the hysterical personality and hysterical conversion. Amer. J. Psychiat., 114, 734—40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eastman, B. (1845) Practical Treatise of Diseases Peculiar to Women and Girls. Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Gleghorn, R. A. (1969) Hysterical personality and conversion: theoretical aspects. Canad. Psychiat. Ass. J., 14, 553—67.Google Scholar
Guze, S. B. (1967) The diagnosis of hysteria: what are we trying to do? Amer. J. Psychiat., 124, 491—8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guze, S. B., Woodruff, R. A. & Clayton, P. J. (1972a) A study of conversion symptoms in psychiatric out-patients. Amer. J. Psychiat., 128, 643—6.Google Scholar
Guze, S. B., Woodruff, R. A. & Clayton, P. J. (1972b) Sex, age and the diagnosis of hysteria (Briquet's syndrome). Amer. J. Psychiat., 129, 745—8.Google Scholar
Henderson, & Gillespie, (1962) Textbook of Psychiatry. Revised by Henderson, D. and Batchelor, I. R. C. London.Google Scholar
Hollender, M. H. (1972) Conversion hysteria. Arch. gen. Psychiatry, 26, 311—15.Google Scholar
Lerner, H. E. (1974) The hysterial personality. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 15, 157—64.Google Scholar
Lewis, W. C. (1974) Hysteria. The consultant's dilemma. Arch. gen. Psychiat., 30, 145—51.Google Scholar
Meares, R. & Horvath, T. (1972) Acute and chronic hysteria. Brit. J. Psychiat., 121, 653—7.Google Scholar
Purtell, J. J., Robins, E. & Cohen, M. E. (1951) Observations on clinical aspects of hysteria: a quantitative study of 50 hysteria patients and 150 control subjects. J. Amer. med. Assoc., 146, 902—9.Google Scholar
Safilios-Rothschild, C. (1972) The options of Greek men and women. Sociological Focus, 5, 71—83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schilder, P. (1939) The concept of hysteria. Amer. J. Psychiat., 95. 1389–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slater, E. T. O. & Glithero, E. (1965) A follow-up of patients diagnosed as suffering from hysteria. J. Psychosom. Res., 9, 9—13.Google Scholar
Stephens, J. H. & Kamp, M. (1962) On some aspects of hysteria: a clinical study. J. neru. ment. Dis., 134, 305—15.Google Scholar
Walshe, F. (1965) Diagnosis of hysteria. Brit. med. J., ii, 1451—4.Google Scholar
Woodruff, R. A., Clayton, P. J. & Guze, S. B. (1971) Hysteria: studies of diagnosis, outcome and prevalence. J. Amer. med. Assoc., 215, 425—8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zetzel, E. (1968) The so-called good hysteric. Int. J. Psychoanal., 49, 256. Quoted by Lerner, (1974).Google Scholar
Ziegler, F. J., Imboden, J. B. & Meyer, E. (1960) Contemporary conversion reactions: a clinical study. Amer. J. Psychiat., 116, 901—9.Google Scholar
Ziegler, F. J., Imboden, J. B. & Rodgers, D. A. (1963) Contemporary conversion reactions: diagnostic considerations. J. Amer. med. Assoc., 186, 307—11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.