The Hysterical History of Female Hysteria

Oh, Hippocrates. (The man, some might surmise, who inspired the Britney Spears hit, '(You Drive Me) Crazy'. I would definitely think so.) You and your 'wandering wombs' theory. I was going to do a write-up on the topic, but it really doesn't get much better than this article, so - enjoy.

Traditionally (and by 'traditionally' I mean 'pretty much always'), men (and by 'men' I mean 'those in positions of authority throughout history') have had issues with the differences between themselves and women (and by 'women' I mean 'women'). For one thing, females are missing the most important body part (the penis) and have a strange, mysterious, non-visible body part that men don't (the womb) which in turn magically produces small humans. Back in ancient Greece, Hippocrates, one of the first major physicians, theorized that the addition of this body part, capable as it was of producing life, was essentially a living being itself and therefore capable of moving around inside a woman's body and therefore capable of creating all sorts of imbalances, flights of fancy, headaches, drowsiness, and lots of other conditions including rather nasty smells known as 'vapors'. (He conveniently ignored the fact that men also experience all of these symptoms, up to and including nasty smells - perhaps he thought the penis acted as a sort of regulator since it only moved noticeably outside the body, and not invisibly inside.) ((I just realized that much more frequently people now refer to a man's genitalia as having 'a mind of its own' and that we all generally acknowledge that women's innards have pretty much settled down.)) (((Annnd I ALSO just realized I did the write-up on 'wandering wombs' anyway. Oops.)))

'Hysteria' - also known as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anxiety attacks.

By the Victorian era, 'hysteria' was a recognized catch-all of women's health issues. It took a surprisingly long time for people to figure out that when a woman of the time had 'a touch of the vapors' her dizzy spell was caused by her overly-tight corset restricting airflow, not unhealthy gasses emanating from her ladyparts. Over the centuries doctors (all male, ahem) had lumped sexual urges in with pretty much all other conditions a woman might be suffering from, including depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, PTSD, emotional outbursts, laughing vigorously, learning a second language, and reading novels. And also, sex. By the 1800's physicians were staying in business by treating women for 'hysteria' by inducing orgasms, or 'hysterical paroxysm'. Vibrators were introduced as a medical tool for just that purpose. Sigmund Freud, in Austria in the 1880's and 1890's, was the first to suggest that 'women's issues' were not, in fact, tied to the womb, but to the brain. His theories and practice of psychoanalysis were the starting point for determining mental health conditions unconnected to the uterus. However, it wasn't until the 1950's that the medical profession finally dropped the term 'hysteria'.

It was just too convenient, I expect.

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Interesting, informative video. I bet she'd be a kick at parties.

http://bigthink.com/videos/what-was-female-hysteria-really

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Also during the late 1800's, many asylums were established solely to treat female 'hysteria'. It was an accepted philosophy that curing the body would cure the mind, and by 'cure' I mean 'removal of the afflicted organ would restore sanity' - with the understanding that 'afflicted organ' meant 'female reproductive parts'. This article describes the attitude and perceptions of hysteria and the removal of patients to asylums in the Victorian era. Since women were not allowed at that time to study medicine, there wasn't much they could do other than wonder, 'Are you sure? That really doesn't seem right. I'm not a doctor, but it is my body, so...'

It took another 50+ years before the medical field started listening, and in some parts of the world even today those advances still haven't actually happened.

Get crazy, ladies.