History Of Hysteria

W. Somerset Maughams The Moon and Sixpence is essentially a novel about a mans difference to free himself from the restrictions of society and to act out his nearly lustful desire--to paint. However, Maughams novel is also a story of its date and therefore reflects popular theories and ideas that were prevalent at the time of its writing. include in these ideas is Hysteria, mentioned clearly when the narrators describes the pay offs view of Blanches attempt to kill herself as just a hysterical woman who had quarreled with her lover...it was constantly happening. (Maugham 123). The following will describe the development, symptoms and interposition of Hysteria.

Hysteria, considered a neurotic illness (www.a2zpsychology.com/a2z%20guide/hysteria.htm) was considered a dis post in which a person, usually a woman, exhibited physical symptoms yet no physical cause could be found. Coming from the Greek for uterus, or hysteria, Hysteria was thought to be related to the uterus or an altered menstrual cycle.

Hysterias symptoms were many, but the most notable included inappropriate elation or affliction (www.healthlibrary.com/reading/ncure/chap94.



htm), excessive laughing or crying followed by an abrupt return to a normal state, fainting, panic, paralysis, cramps in the embody and a sense of constriction of the throat. (www.healthlibrary.com/reading/ncure/chap94.htm) The French doctor Jean-Martin Charcot, a pioneer in the field of psychiatry in the mid-nineteenth century, insisted that there were four stages to a full hysterical rape: 1. Tonic Rigidity 2. Clonic spasms and grand movements 3. Attitudes passionelles, or lifelike physical representations of one or more emotional states 4. final examination delirium--tears, laughter and a return to normal.

The term hysteria has hardly been in use since the mid-nineteenth century but its idea has been in place since the Egyptians and Ancient Greeks. The Greek doctor Hippocrates was one of the runner to diagnose the...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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