# And I thought a good slapping was the cure to hysteria…
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 1, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872 "2004-08-01T21:45:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/1 "2004-08-01T21:45:25Z")
Enters an obviously rich, elegant, prim, proper and perfectly coiffed lady, she seems in her early 40s, but is still very attractive. We hear her complain to her husband that she is “indisposed” today and would he please tell the help to call the doctor.
The young doctor rushes up the stairs while the servants whisper that milady has ‘female problems’ again. The lady of the house tells her doctor how she felt feverish and weak this morning. As she’s done countless times, she prepares herself for the medical procedure. She lies on the bed, legs wide spread, the doctor proceeds, with a businesslike and disinterested face, to masturbate her until she climaxes. He washes his hands and tells her he’ll send the bill to her husband’s office.
You think that came out of a bad porno movie? [Think](http://print.google.com/print/doc?isbn=0801859417) [again](http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~delmare/).
Maybe I’ve been living under a rock all these years, but as sure as hell didn’t know that these weird things were going on up until the 1st quarter of the 20th century. WTF? 😕
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### Author:  [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/2 "2004-08-01T22:36:48Z")
I dunno but I know I’m hysterical… so where’s one of those doctors at?
Some things I found interesting from the article:
> [@](#):
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> In effect, doctors inherited the task of producing orgasm in women because it was a job nobody else wanted.
> [@](#):
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> Like many husbands, doctors were reluctant to inconvenience themselves in performing what was, after all, a routine chore. The job required skill and attention…
Well no wonder women didn’t like sex. Our orgasm was an ‘inconvenience’ to the men!
> [@](#):
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> The uterus, engorged with unexpended “seed” (semen in Latin), was thought to be in revolt against sexual deprivation. The cure, consistent with the humoral theory popularized by Galen, was to coax the organ back into its normal position in the pelvis and to cause the expulsion of the excess fluids. When the patient was single, a widow, unhappily married, or a nun, the cure was effected by vigorous horseback exercise, by movement of the pelvis in a swing, rocking chair, or carriage, or by massage of the vulva by a physician or midwife…
This is just funny… I can just see in my head the image of a nun in one of those swings you can buy…
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/3 "2004-08-01T22:58:27Z")
> [@Flutterby](#):
>
> I dunno but I know I’m hysterical… so where’s one of those doctors at?
I don’t know, I think medicine took a step back with the abolition of hysteria as a diagnosis. Think of the possibilities… “Doctors office? Yeah, can you pls. tell Dr. Softhands that I am feeling a bit hysterical today. Yes, I would like to make an appointment for today.” Yes, a step back. 😃
I don’t know what’s weirder, the fact that most of these people didn’t see anything ‘sexual’ in this practice or the fact that husbands actually paid to have their wives and daughters masturbated.
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### Author:  [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/4 "2004-08-01T23:10:12Z")
No matter how hysterical I got I’d be too embarassed tomake an appointment for that actually.
And you’re right, I don’t know which is weirder. But then in this enlightened time we don’t have to pay anyone to masturbate us, we can do it ourselves with our handy BOB’s!
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/5 "2004-08-01T23:25:48Z")
Hmmm, it would certainly make _ER_ a lot more interesting…
Some of those antique vibrators look _scary_.
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/6 "2004-08-01T23:42:26Z")
From [this](http://www.libidomag.com/nakedbrunch/maines.html) (a sworn affidavit in an Alabama case):
> [@](#):
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> At the time that the Constitution was written, the theories described above were the dominant paradigm in Western gynecology. Benjamin Rush, who was a close friend to and correspondent with John Adams, a fellow member of the American Philosophical Society with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, and the founder of the first hospital built in the new United States, was in Philadelphia ensuring that his new institution had proper hydriatic treatment equipment suitable for treating diseases such as hysteria
> [@](#):
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> Alabamians seeking physical therapy for hysteria and other disorders traveled north to Virginia (now West Virginia), where the hot springs over which Greenbrier now stands were already in use as a resort by 1780 (Greenbrier 2000). The “pelvic douche” shown in Exhibit B was offered at nearly all of these establishments; orgasm would incur in most women after about four minutes of such treatment
> [@](#):
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> Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams, spent some time at Bath in England in January 1787, enjoying two weeks of treatment in addition to what she called "amusement and dissipation
So, there, proof that the US’s founding fathers were lousy lovers. 🙂
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/7 "2004-08-02T01:02:26Z")
Why no, ma’am, I’m not a Doctor-just practicing while attending medical school. If you’d be kind enough to put your legs up here on my shoulders, I’ll get right to work 😛
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### Author:  [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/8 "2004-08-02T06:54:16Z")
This practice is featured in The Road to Wellville by T Corraghessan Boyle, which was also made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins. I never saw the film version so I don’t know how it was depicted there.
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### Author:  [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/9 "2004-08-02T07:35:30Z")
> [@Martha](#):
>
> This practice is featured in The Road to Wellville by T Corraghessan Boyle, which was also made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins. I never saw the film version so I don’t know how it was depicted there.
With Colm Meaney “handebunging” naked Bridget Fonda and naked Camryn Mannheim in a meadow.
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### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/10 "2004-08-02T12:35:46Z")
I’ve read that some doctors were trying to invent a hydraulic cure for hysteria around the turn of the century.
I get this image of an enormous steam powered thing that looks like a cross between a locomotive and a vegetable garden…
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/11 "2004-08-02T12:45:50Z")
Actually the first vibrator \*was \* steam-powered. It occupied two rooms.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/12 "2004-08-02T13:28:41Z")
> [@Martha](#):
>
> This practice is featured in The Road to Wellville by T Corraghessan Boyle, which was also made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins. I never saw the film version so I don’t know how it was depicted there.
Ferris Buehler was in it, too. It was so bizarre, I have difficulty recalling most of it. All’s I know is they were big on taking dumps (Lieu would _love_ this flick!) and there was an awful lot of sex going on. I believe it was based on the real true Kellogg of corn flake fame. Or someone similar.
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/13 "2004-08-02T13:44:54Z")
Kellogg is mentioned in one of these articles as been big against masturbation, which he considered the biggest threat to one’s health :rolleyes:
No wonder there was a lot of sex involved. He too had hydriatic treatments in his spas (think the old version of the hand-held showerhead or the jacuzzi 😉 )
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### Author:  [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/14 "2004-08-02T16:44:15Z")
> [@Martha](#):
>
> This practice is featured in The Road to Wellville by T Corraghessan Boyle, which was also made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins. I never saw the film version so I don’t know how it was depicted there.
Was it? Darnit I wish I’d paid more attention to the movie! I saw part of it once either on TV or on a bus ride but I got bored and tuned it out (or turned it off).
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/15 "2004-08-02T20:04:47Z")
I have a book called The Technology of Orgasm (or something similar) that goes into manual and mechanical stimulation as a ‘cure’ for hysteria in depth.
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### Author:  [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/16 "2004-08-02T20:37:19Z")
> [@Flutterby](#):
>
> And you’re right, I don’t know which is weirder. But then in this enlightened time we don’t have to pay anyone to masturbate us, we can do it ourselves with our handy BOB’s!
I hope I don’t need to remind you that the Straight Dope frowns on self-diagnosis and self-treatment. You really should see a specialist in such matters. I’m sure that a line of “specialists” is forming to help you out, even as we speak.
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### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/17 "2004-08-02T21:22:29Z")
I know there’s a Doper who had this as a sig “I induced a hysterical paroxysm.”
“How do you spell that?” “O-R-G-A-S-M”
I’d also like to remind everyone that I am a doctor. I interned with Herr Doktor Caligari.
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-thought-a-good-slapping-was-the-cure-to-hysteria/257872/18 "2004-08-02T22:39:45Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#):
>
> I hope I don’t need to remind you that the Straight Dope frowns on self-diagnosis and self-treatment. You really should see a specialist in such matters. I’m sure that a line of “specialists” is forming to help you out, even as we speak.
Hmm… specialists. That is a thought that never crossed my mind. \*Hysteriologists \* mayhaps?