Hysteria was associated with sexuality and was usually attributed to women.
Hysteria is a term originating from the French hystérie , although its more distant antecedents take us to the Greek language. Hysteria is defined as a chronic nervous disease that is more common in women than in men and is characterized by a wide variety of functional symptoms. Nowadays, however, medicine does not usually use this term.
Hysteria is a psychological disorder framed within neuroses and somatization disorders . This means that the hysterical patient exhibits physical and psychological symptoms without organic origin and often developed for unconscious reasons. Hypochondria, somatization, dissociative amnesia and depersonalization are often associated with hysterical disorders.
Symptoms of hysteria
Among the many symptoms that people with hysteria present are the following: abdominal, back, chest, headache, and joint pain ; amnesia; diarrhea; swallowing problems; dizziness; loss of sexual desire; alterations in vision; difficulty breathing; muscle weakness; nausea and vomiting. It is worth mentioning that hysteria ailments usually extend over several years and interfere with all aspects of life, such as interpersonal relationships and work.
Other characteristics of hysteria are that it usually appears before reaching the age of 30 and that it occurs especially in people who suffer from chronic pain and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). To identify the causes, both physical and psychological examinations are usually performed.
The burning womb
For a long time and until the end of the 19th century , hysteria was associated with a supposed female discomfort linked to sexuality . Doctors treated apparently sick women by massaging the clitoris or instructing the use of dildos since they attributed the illness to what the Greeks called a burning uterus .
These practices are no longer part of medicine and hysterical symptoms are considered to appear in both women and men. Today hysteria is usually understood as a temporary state of nervous excitement that is produced by an abnormal or extraordinary situation. For example: "The arrival of the Mexican singer unleashed hysteria among his followers," "I don't like the hysteria that arises around actors."
Hysteria can be associated with a state of nervousness.
Hysteria in popular language
In popular language, the word hysteria usually takes on one of two possible meanings: it can refer to a state of mind characterized by alteration , which can be temporary or common in a specific person; or a deceptive and manipulative attitude. The first of these meanings, for its part, can have a positive or negative connotation, depending on the case. For example, accusing a person of being hysterical and telling them that their way of being is difficult to bear is the opposite of talking about hysterical cries when faced with good news.
Hysteria can also be associated with a temporary nervous state in the face of a stressful and difficult situation, such as facing a phobia: if a person suffering from vertigo is forced to walk on a very high bridge or near a ledge, they can living a true nightmare and going through an attack of hysteria, understood as an alteration to the point of not being able to regain calm for several minutes.
On the other hand, hysteria is found as an attitude typical of those who seek to confuse and manipulate their environment. People who act in this way often create false expectations in those around them, and then disappoint them and cause them pain. In each case, the reasons that drive an individual to psychologically harm someone who has not apparently attacked him respond to different experiences that probably marked him in his first years of life.