Hysteria—A Re-Evaluation

Abstract

It is interesting to reflect that it is 70 years since Charcot delivered his lectures on Hysteria at the Salpêtriére, 60 years since Freud and Breuer published their Studies in Hysteria and 50 years almost to the day that Pierre Janet was invited to lecture on the same subject at Harvard University. In that period—from Charcot to Janet—almost everything was said that could be said of this disease. So much so that we have entered into a sort of post-Galenic period in which all subsequent authors repeat—more briefly and less accurately—all that was said with such brilliance by this eminent triumvirate. What may be said that is new, really fresh? What researches of importance have been carried out in recent years that must today be reported, what up-to-date views on aetiology and treatment? It is humbling to admit that there are precious few. True there have been many contributions to other branches of psychiatry but it seems to me that the situation of the hysterical patient today is very much as it was when his grandparents and great-grandparents submitted themselves to the awesome scrutiny of a full neuro-psychiatric investigation.