Hysteria: The Rise of an Enigma

Description

Hysteria is probably the condition which best illustrates the tight connection between neurology and psychiatry. While it has been known since antiquity, its renewed studies during the 19th century were mainly due to the work of Jean-Martin Charcot and his school in Paris. This publication focuses on these early developments, in which immediate followers of Charcot, including Babinski, Freud, Janet, Richer, and Gilles de la Tourette were involved. Hysteria is commonly considered as a condition that often leads to spectacular manifestations (e.g. convulsions, palsies), although both structural and functional imaging data confirm the absence of consistent and reproducible structural lesions. While numerous hypotheses have tried to explain the occurrence of this striking phenomenon, the precise nosology and pathophysiology of hysteria remain elusive. This volume offers an enthralling and informative read for neurologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists, as well as for general physicians, historians, and everyone interested in the developments of one of the most intriguing conditions in medicine.

Informations

• Publié par: S. Karger AG
• Date de parution: 23 juin 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9783318026474
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Hysteria: The Rise of an Enigma
Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience
Vol. 35
Series Editor
J. Bogousslavsky Montreux
Hysteria: The Rise of an Enigma
Volume Editor
J. Bogousslavsky Montreux
59 figures, 3 in color, and 2 tables, 2014
Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience Vols. 1-18 were published as Monographs in Clinical Neuroscience
_______________________________ Julien Bogousslavsky, MD Center for Brain and Nervous System Diseases GSMN Neurocenter, Clinique Valmont CH-1823 Glion/Montreux (Switzerland)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hysteria (Bogousslavsky)
Hysteria : the rise of an enigma /volume editor, J. Bogousslavsky.
p.; cm. –– (Frontiers of neurology and neuroscience, ISSN 1660-4431 ; vol. 35)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-3-318-02646-7 (hard cover : alk. paper) –– ISBN 978-3-318-02647-4 (e-ISBN)
I. Bogousslavsky, Julien, editor. II. Title. III. Series: Frontiers of neurology and neuroscience; v. 35.1660-4431
[DNLM: 1. Hysteria-history. 2. History, 19th Century. 3. History, 20th Century. 4. Mental Disorders-history. W1 MO568C v.35 2014/WM 11.1]
RC532
616.85'24-dc23
2014013484
Bibliographic Indices. This publication is listed in bibliographic services, including Current Contents ® and Index Medicus.
Disclaimer. The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publisher and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements in the book is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.
Drug Dosage. The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any change in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
© Copyright 2014 by S. Karger AG, P.O. Box, CH-4009 Basel (Switzerland)
www.karger.com
Printed in Germany on acid-free and non-aging paper (ISO 9706) by Kraft Druck, Ettlingen
ISSN 1660-4431
e-ISSN 1662-2804
ISBN 978-3-318-02646-7
e-ISBN 978-3-318-02647-4
Contents
Foreword
Boller, F. (Bethesda Md.)
Preface
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)

Before Charcot
Pearce, J.M.S. (Hull)
Socioeconomic Background of Hysteria's Metamorphosis from the 18th Century to World War I
Edelman, N. (Nanterre); Walusinski, O. (Brou)
‘Fin-de-Siècle’ Epidemiology of Hysteria
Luauté, J.-P. (Romans)
Clinical Manifestations of Hysteria: An Epistemological Perspective or How Historical Dynamics Illuminate Current Practice
Medeiros De Bustos, E.; Galli, S.; Haffen, E.; Moulin, T. (Besançon)
Jean-Martin Charcot and His Legacy
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
Hypnosis and the Nancy Quarrel
Piechowski-Jozwiak, B. (London/Warsaw); Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
The Girls of La Salpêtrière
Walusinski, O. (Brou)
Public Medical Shows
Walusinski, O. (Brou)
Emma Bovary, Hedda Gabler, and Harold Brodkey Would Not Have Lived without Charcot: Hysteria in Novels
Kaptein, A.A. (Leiden)
Traces of Hysteria in Novels
Haan, J. (Leiderdorp/Leiden); Koehler, P.J. (Heerlen)
Sigmund Freud and Hysteria: The Etiology of Psychoanalysis?
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux); Dieguez, S. (Fribourg)
Paul Sollier, Pierre Janet, and Their Vicinity
Walusinski, O. (Brou)
Criticism of Pithiatism: Eulogy of Babinski
Poirier, J.;Derouesné, C. (Paris)
The Borderland with Neurasthenia (‘Functional Syndromes’)
Paciaroni, M. (Perugia); Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
World War I Psychoneuroses: Hysteria Goes to War
Tatu, L. (Besançon); Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
Hysteria around the World
Carota, A. (Genolier/Basel); Calabrese, P. (Basel)
History of Physical and ‘Moral’ Treatment of Hysteria
Broussolle, E.; Gobert, F.; Danaila, T.; Thobois, S. (Lyon); Walusinski, O. (Brou); Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
‘Hysteria’ Today and Tomorrow
LaFrance, W.C., Jr. (Providence, R.I.)
Author Index
Subject Index
Foreword
Hysteria is undoubtedly a fascinating subject. It has inspired a large number of books, films, paintings, and even poetry. However, when it comes to clinicians and researchers, opinions and reactions tend to vary widely. Many of us are uneasy when seeing patients supposed to suffer from it or when trying to write about the condition. A number of problems arise. For a start the origin of the word and its heavy uterus-related gender connotation, besides being politically incorrect, grossly contradicts the clinical reality that males also demonstrate these symptoms, even though less frequently than females. Yet there is hardly another fully agreed upon term to label it. Freud introduced the label ‘conversion disorders’, but it is not universally recognized nowadays. The terms ‘psychogenic’ or ‘functional’ disorders have the supposed advantage of being compatible with our inability to demonstrate a tangible ‘lesion’ of the nervous system. However, psychogenic implies a psychiatric background which in many cases is hard to demonstrate. As for the term ‘functional’, it was probably chosen by the authors of the new DSM-5 because it implies that we are confronted with a system which is malfunctioning even though we do not know why. Use of the word, however, contradicts the dictionary definition of the term (‘having a special purpose; practical, necessary’). Frankly, it strikes me mainly as a euphemism which has become part of medical slang so as not to offend the laypersons who hear it.
Several sources indicate that the condition is inversely correlated to socioeconomic status and in many cases, it is clearly related to stress. The poor Salpêtrière women described by Char-cot probably had many reasons for being stressed. Also, there is a massive recrudescence of ‘hysteria’ during wars. We have in mind the shell shock occurring so frequently during the incredibly anxiogenic conditions of trench warfare during World War I. We all remember General Patton's gesture so vividly represented by George C. Scott in Franklin Shaffner's 1970 film. In August 1943, at the height of the battle of Sicily, the General found out that two soldiers were in evacuation hospitals without apparent physical injuries and ‘battle fatigue’ as the only reason for being away from the front. That infuriated him to the extent that he struck and insulted them, a gesture which almost cost him his subsequent career and which forced him to apologize in front of the troops. Much closer to us, there seems to be an increase in cases of hysteria in war-torn Iraq [ 1 ].
Have current laboratory techniques much improved our understanding of hysteria? Not a lot - probably in part because of the heterogeneity of the disorder. Both structural and functional imaging data confirm the absence of consistent and reproducible structural lesions. Available data, however, are compatible with dysfunction of a network. This may lead to the erroneous cognitive processing of adverse events which in turn appears to be associated with the physical symptoms of hysteria.
A recent editorial in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry [ 2 ] is provocatively entitled ‘Don't know what they are, but treatable?’ It accompanies an article by McCormack et al. [ 3 ] showing good response of severe motor conversion disorders to inpatient psychiatric treatment. These two articles correctly point to one element that most patients with hysteria have in common: they tend to improve with nonpharmacological therapies ranging from psychoeducation to randomized clinical trials of controlled behavioral therapy. Patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures have benefitted the most, but a moderate effect has been found in other cases of hysteria. This allows reasoning based on response to treatment, ‘ex juvantibus’ as the old saying goes, corroborating the theory of a cause unrelated to physical factors.
In conclusion, the precise nosology and patho-physiology of hysteria remain elusive. Yet, although we may be ill at ease seeing these patients, we all also like enigmas. That is why I am convinced that many people, whether health-related professionals or not will derive great pleasure from reading this work by Julien Bogousslavsky and his exceptional consortium of authors.
François Boller , Bethesda Md., USA
References
1 Najim H, A1-Habbo DJ, Sultan KO: Trends of a