How did Freud change our understanding of hysteria?

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How did Freud change our understanding of hysteria?

Hysteria is a psychological disorder defined by historian Luckhurst as one which “is famed for the tormenting of the body by the troubled mind-as among the most pervasive human disorders; yet, at the same time, it is the most elusive. And it is indeed this ‘elusiveness’ that has made the study of hysteria a subject of much popularity, particularly amongst many famous psychologists including: Sigmund Freud, Joseph Breuer and Jean Martin Charcot. However, this essay will focus on the one man who is famed for being the “Father of Psychoanalysis”, and although his ideas were not entirely developed independently, they were truly compilations of ideas forged by the network of intellectuals during the late nineteenth century, yet Freud is the man we remember, the man who utterly transformed our perspective of hysteria and how we view it in today’s society. In order to fully understand how Freud changed our understanding of hysteria this essay will look at the treatment of hysteria, in particular the famous case of Anna O, and his theories which were developed as a consequence of this study- some of which caused controversy, but all of which still very much alive today in the twenty-first century, whether they are credible or not.

To understand how Freud changed our understanding of hysteria, it must first be looked at how hysteria was originally viewed and treated, in order to fully highlight the changes Freud bought about. Starting from the earliest recordings of the disorder, logged in Egyptian papyri circa 300 BC, intellectuals like Hippocrates and other ancient philosophers put a definition to the word ‘hysteria’. Greek mythology stated that a “female’s uterus becomes displeased and displaced and therefore wanders through the female’s body, which then strangles her as it reaches her chest, supposedly causing the disease.”  With such a myth being the origin of the term, (hysteria means “uterus” in Greek), it would not be hard to change ones understanding of it, however hysteria only really developed substantially from this at the beginning of the 18th century. Historian Rachel Maines believes that the history of hysteria can be followed back to during the Victorian era, in which women were deemed to be “an epitome of conservative human beings that are too vulnerable to any outside destruction thus they are kept safe”. They would have symptoms that included feeling faint, paranoia, severe lack of sleep, water retention, trouble controlling their breathing, loss of libido and appetite, and possibly an aggressive nature. Hysteria then begins to evolve further into the nineteenth century where hysteria changes into a widespread disorder or a disorder for females as it was related with their removal of sexual intercourse. These myths and theories (as they were referred to) continued to exist until Freud and his studies came into existence and linked hysteria to psychological illnesses, which gave a much clearer perspective on the nature of the disease.

Moving onto how hysteria was treated, with the earliest methods of hysteria being dealt with based on the idea of the supposed cause, which was “sexual deprivation” of women. This led to various methods such as massaging the pelvic area, which required much time and attention from the medical practitioners. Treatments such as this one gradually developed and grew into much more modern gadget inventions, i.e. massage devices, commonly known in today’s modern society as the vibrator. Historian Maines also discusses that among the ‘cures’ for hysteria (still focusing on genital stimulation) were that of manual massage and water propelled stimulator devices, along with steam powered devices, and electric powered devices. She then states that “spa therapies used jets of waters aimed as female’s genitals to induce spasm and crises followed by periods of lassitude and insensibility where the bath was one of the most famous treatments for hysteria during the early period.” Maine continues, claiming that the majority of the physicians found it very difficult in undertaking the monotonous task of massaging and that the mass of women patients could sometimes take up to three hours to reach an orgasm, which, at the time, was the main remedy for the disease. As mentioned above, it wasn’t until the creation of a massage device, which rapidly reduced the time to reach “hysterical paroxysm”, a medical term for orgasm. Historian Maines also mentions within her publication that during the turn of the mid nineteenth century, the ‘hydrotherapy device’ became available and was built in baths and many leading bathing resorts became famous in and around Europe and also in the USA. Finally, during the late 1800’s, Maine also mentions the creation of an “AC-powered vibrator” during and the first “electromechanical vibrator”, which was first operated at an asylum in France as the main remedy for hysteria.

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During the start of the second century, Galen, a famous physician wrote about the cause of hysteria to be sexual deprivation specifically in the case of overzealous women. This was based from the examination that hysteria was commonly found in virgins, nuns, and widows and only infrequently for married women. Due to this study, medical practitioners during the medieval and renaissance period prescribed the cure as intercourse- for married women, to get married for the single women, and finally the last resort would be to get a pelvic massage from a medical practitioner.

According to historians Regina Markell Morantz, ...

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