Hysteria Beyond Freud

The term "hysteria" has been used to diagnose and dismiss extreme emotionality and physical disorders, particularly in women. This book explores the history of hysteria, from antiquity to the early twentieth century, using social and cultural history to examine how it has been conceived by doctors and patients, writers and artists. It shows that a history of hysteria is a history of how we understand the mind.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 502 pages
Publication date: 25 March 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

For centuries, the term "hysteria" has been wielded by physicians and laypeople alike to diagnose and dismiss the extreme emotionality and enigmatic physical disorders that are believed to plague others, particularly women. How did this medical concept gain such power? What cultural purposes does it serve? Why do different centuries and different circumstances yield distinct forms of hysteria? These are among the questions explored in this engrossing, scholarly reevaluation of the history of hysteria. The esteemed authors employ the insights of social and cultural history, rather than Freudian psychoanalysis, to examine how hysteria has been conceived by doctors and patients, writers and artists, in Europe and North America, from antiquity to the early years of the twentieth century. By doing so, they demonstrate that a history of hysteria is a history of how we understand the mind. This title is part of UC Press' Voices Revived program, which commemorates the University of California Press' mission to seek out and nurture the brightest minds and provide them with a voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again through print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1993.

Weight: 726g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520301979