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.”
