Hysteria Definition - What is Hysteria?

Hysteria refers to a condition in which the person exhibits any one of a number of often dramatic symptoms.

Hysteria symptoms

Hysteria symptoms include:

• Paralysis,
• Blindness,
• Seizures,
• Abdominal pain,
• Alterations in consciousness, such as amnesia or fugue.

None of these symptoms have any organic basis.

Such individuals may go from doctor to doctor in an attempt to find a solution and often undergo many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, including surgery, and take multiple medications.

However, the basis of hysteric symptoms is typically believed to be repressed psychological conflict.

A thorough physical and psychological evaluation is needed.

Hysteria treatment

Hysteria is usually treated with some type of psychotherapy designed to help the patient understand his or her unconscious conflicts.

Treatment with drugs and hypnosis may also supplement the psychotherapy.

The psychiatric term, hysteria, is very different from the emotional outburst most people associate with the word “hysteria.”